The Education of Sylvia Plath, Smith College, 1951-1952

This is the second post in a series on the Education of Sylvia Plath and it reviews the courses she took during the 1951-1952 academic year.

In Sylvia Plath's second year at Smith College, she roomed with Marcia Brown (later Stern), in Room 6 of Haven House. This room was on the middle floor of the house (2nd floor American, 1st floor elsewhere). Plath's room faced the Davis Student Center this year and the room had a bay window, a nice architectural feature.

View from bay window of Room 6, toward Library

View from bay window of Room 6, toward Elm Street

1950s floor plan of Haven House

As with her first year, Plath carried six courses and received 15 credits (Physical Education did not earn her any credit). Using the finding aid to Plath mss II at the Lilly Library, I have added some of the papers that Sylvia Plath submitted for her courses. Her artwork I am unable to attribute at this time, an oversight for which I apologize. Plath's notebooks for Government 11 and Religion 14 are held by the Lilly Library.

Art 210: Development of Principles and Methods of Visual Expression. Studio and individual projects in creative pictorial organization, using various painting and graphic media and techniques. Prerequisite, 13. Students must consult the instructor before enrolling. Nine studio hours of which six must be M T W 10-12. Mr Cohen. (51)

English 211: Literature of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. M T W 9. Miss Randall and Miss Drew. (71).

English 220a, 220b: Practice in Various Forms of Writing. M T W 11, 2. Miss Page. (73)

"The Perfect Set-Up", September 1951;
"The Estonian", 30 October 1951;
"Sonnet: To Eva", before 2 November 1951;
"Sonnet: To Time", before 15 November 1951;
"Somebody and We", 15 November 1951;
"Suburban Nocturne", 15 November 1951;
"Mary Ventura", 14 December 1951;
"All I Can Tell You Is about the Fog", Spring 1952;
"The Latvian", 29 February 1952;
"Though Dynasties Pass", 14 March 1952;
"Sunday at the Mintons", March-April 1952;
"The Dead", 11 April 1952;
"Marie", 4 May 1952; and
"Cinderella", 1951-1952

Government 11: Introduction to Politics. Leading problems, principles, and concepts in political science. For Freshmen and Sophomores only; not open to students who have taken Social Science 192. Two lectures and one recitation. Lee. M T 12. Rec. W 9, 12, 2; Th 11, 12, 3; F 11, 2. Mr Overstreet, Mr Pierce, and members of the Department. (84)

Physical Education 2a, 2b: Dance and Sports. Three periods of one hour each. Required for Sophomores. Each term a choice of sports and dance as listed under the corresponding term for 1a and b. (111)

Religion 14: Introduction to the Study of Religion. Teachings of contemporary Judaism, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism. Problems presented by scientific thought, nationalism, and industrialized society. Survey of certain important religious ideas. For Freshmen and Sophomores only. Lee. Th 10. Rec. (for Freshmen) Th F 3, F S 10; (for Sophomores) Th F 2, F S 10. Miss Corwin, Mr Christian. (117)

["Religious Beliefs"], circa Fall 1951?;
"Unitarianism: Yesterday and Today", 8 December 1951; and
"Religion As I See It", 3 May 1952

See the other posts in the Education of Sylvia Plath series: 1950-1951; 1952-1953; 1954; and 1954-1955.

All links accessed 2 August and 7 December 2017.

Famous Quotes of Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath inspires us all in various and wonderful ways. She is in many respects a form of comfort to us, which is something that Esther Greenwood expresses in The Bell Jar , about a bath: "There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them. Whenever I'm sad I'm going to die, or so nervous I can't sleep, or in love with somebody I won't be seeing for a week, I slump down just so far and then I say: 'I'll go take a hot bath.'" We read and remember Sylvia Plath for many reasons, many of them deeply personal and private. But we commemorate her, too, in very public ways, as Anna of the long-standing Tumblr Loving Sylvia Plath , has been tracking, in the form of tattoos. (Anna's on Instagram with it too, as SylviaPlathInk .) The above bath quote is among Sylvia Plath's most famous. It often appears here and there and it is stripped of its context. But I think most people will know it is from her nove...

Sylvia Plath's Gravestone Vandalized

The following news story appeared online this morning: HEPTONSTALL, ENGLAND (APFS) - The small village of Heptonstall is once again in the news because of the grave site of American poet Sylvia Plath. The headstone controversy rose to a fever pitch in 1989 when Plath's grave was left unmarked for a long period of time after vandals repeatedly chiseled her married surname Hughes off the stone marker. Author Nick Hornby commented, "I like Plath, but the controversy reaching its fever pitch in the 80s had nothing to do with my book title choice." Today, however, it was discovered that the grave was defaced but in quite an unlikely fashion. This time, Plath's headstone has had slashed-off her maiden name "Plath," so the stone now reads "Sylvia Hughes." A statement posted on Twitter from @masculinistsfortedhughes (Masculinists for Ted Hughes) has claimed responsibility saying that, "We did this because as Ted Hughes' first wife, Sylvia de...

Sylvia Plath and McLean Hospital

In August when I was in the final preparations for the tour of Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar sites, I found that I had long been mistaken about a couple of things. This is my coming clean. It was my intention in this blog post to discuss just McLean, but I found myself deeply immersed in other aspects of Plath's recovery. The other thing I was mistaken about will be discussed in a separate blog post. I suppose I need to state from the outset that I am drawing conclusions from Plath's actual experiences from what she wrote in The Bell Jar and vice versa, taking information from the novel that is presently unconfirmed or murky and applying it to Plath's biography. There is enough in The Bell Jar , I think, based on real life to make these decisions. At the same time, I like to think that I know enough to distinguish where things are authentic and where details were clearly made up, slightly fudged, or out of chronological order. McLean Hospital was Plath's third and last...

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