Sylvia Plath born on October 27, 1932, in Boston, MA, was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, The Colossus and Other Poems (1960) and Ariel (1965), and also The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her suicide on February 11, 1963. In this recording, Plath reads "Black Rook in Rainy Weather," "A Secret, Stopped Dead," "A Birthday Present," "November Graveyard," "Medusa," "The Disquieting Muses," "The Stones," and "Cut."