Sylvia Plath Author of The Bell Jar “How frail the human heart must be - a mirrored pool of thought.” – S. Plath Sylvia Plath's life and especially her death, have never been fully understood. An acclaimed poet and novelist, she is the golden girl who had everything--beauty and brains; a great and recognized talent; a family that included a daughter and a son. Yet on a third attempt, she committed suicide in 1963 at age 31. Her best known work is "The Bell Jar", a loosely autobiographical novel about the slow emotional collapse of a young woman working for a prestigious New York magazine on a summer internship.