Sylvia Plath on Writing

You ask me why I spend my life writing?
Do I find entertainment?
Is it worthwhile?
Above all, does it pay?
If not, then, is there a reason? …
I write only because
There is a voice within me
That will not be still.

Sylvia Plath, Letters Home: Correspondence 1950-1963 (New York: Harper & Row, 1975) 34.

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) was an American poet, novelist, children’s and short story author who is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry. This quote comes from a poem written when she was 16 years old.