The Letters of Sylvia Plath Vol 2

by Sylvia Plath

*Mary Louise Vincent Back (1926–2006); a secretary for Meridian in the early 1960s who later worked for Duke University Press.

  *‘The Oresteian Trilogy of Aeschylus: Agamemnon’, BBC Third Programme, 30 January 1962, 8:55 p.m.

  *Probably Clifford H. Pope, The Giant Snakes (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962); TH’s copy held by Emory University.

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘The Colossus’, ‘Snakecharmer’, ‘Black Rook in Rainy Weather’, ‘Mushrooms’, ‘Blue Moles’, and ‘The Ghost’s Leavetaking’, Donald Hall (ed.), New Poets of England and America: Second Selection (Cleveland: Meridian Books, 1962): 328–34. Ted Hughes, ‘The Thought-Fox’, ‘Roarers in a Ring’, ‘A Dream of Horses’, ‘Hawk Roosting’, ‘The Retired Colonel’, ‘An Otter’, ‘November’, ‘Thrushes’, ‘Pike’, and ‘Pibroch’, New Poets of England and America, 76–86.

  *The design for the cradle and SP’s template for decorating it and other furniture was from Woman’s Day (November 1961): 39, 44, and 105. The cradle, along with a wooden chair, trestle table, and waste-paper basket, are held by Smith College.

  *Olive Clifford Eaton (1887–1981); a friend of the Schobers and the Plaths.

  *Judith B. Jones to SP, 11 January 1962; held by University of Texas at Austin.

  *The proofs are held by Smith College.

  *‘the stuff, with but with’ appears in the original.

  *The previous aerogramme letter from SP to ASP, 7 February 1962, was not postmarked.

  *‘and say I say’ appears in the original.

  *Richard Allen Norton (1929– ); B.A. 1951, Yale, resident of Jonathan Edwards College; M.D. 1957, Harvard University; dated SP, 1951–3. There are very few letters from SP to Norton as they were not retained. There are many letters from Norton to SP held by Lilly Library. Married Joanne Colburn (1932– ) on 9 June 1956, at the Wellesley Hills Unitarian Church, Wellesley.

  *This paragraph typed in the margin of the first page of the letter.

  *According to SP’s Letts Royal Office Diary Tablet for 1962, the Tyrers had been scheduled for dinner on Sunday, 25 February.

  *Ted Hughes, The Wound, BBC Third Programme (17 February 1962).

  *Ted Hughes, ‘Kvinna Utan Medvetande’ [‘A Woman Unconscious’], ‘Tankeräven’ [‘The Thought-Fox’], ‘Wodwo’ [‘Wodwo’], Rondo 1: 4 (1961): 14–16.

  *According to SP’s Letts Royal Office Diary Tablet for 1962, she began listening to ‘Keep Up Your French’ on 1 March and ‘Keep Up Your German’ on 5 March.

  *English gentleman, writer, and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh (1552–1618).

  *See SP to Elizabeth Schober, 23 March 1962.

  *Hubert Cole, Josephine (London: Heinemann, 1962); reviewed with Peter de Polnay, A Queen of Spain (London: Hollis & Carter, 1962) in Sylvia Plath, ‘Pair of Queens’, New Statesman (27 April 1962): 602–3. Joséphine de Beauharnais (1763–1814); first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821).

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘Stars Over the Dordogne’, ‘Widow’, ‘Face Lift’, ‘Heavy Women’, and ‘Love Letter’, Poetry (March 1962): 346–51.

  *‘After the storm . . .’ The Observer (11 March 1961): 1.

  *Marvin Kane, ‘What Made You Stay?’, A World of Sound, BBC Home Service (7 September 1962); a series about Americans who decided to live in Britain; Kane interviewed SP on 10 April and 20 August 1962.

  *Kathleen Mary (Kindley) Kane (1928–97); married in London in 1952; the Kanes lived at 9 Holland Park, London W.11.

  *Probably Ted Hughes, ‘Meet My Folks!’ Listening and Writing BBC Home Service (Schools), 30 March 1962. TH also met Anthony Thwaite and Eric Walter White for lunch to discuss the Poetry Book Society Summer Choice selection. See correspondence held by Victoria and Albert Museum Archives.

  *Austrian composer Joseph Haydn (1732–1809). The Haydn sonatas were broadcast on the Third Programme at 8 p.m.

  *Probably D. A. Reaney, 8 Elm Grove Road, Exeter, whose name and address appear in SP’s address book.

  *According to SP’s address book, Dr Beuscher moved from 776 Webster Street, Needham, Mass. to 15 Agawam Road, Waban, Mass.

  *Lookout Farm, South Natick, Mass. SP worked there in the summer of 1950.

  *SP meant the previous summer. See SP to ASP, 6 February 1961.

  *In a letter to SP of 17 September, Dr Beuscher writes ‘I would love to have the dedication to RB. I have often thought, if I “cure” no one else in my whole career, you are enough.’ Letter held by Smith College.

  *The photograph is no longer with the letter.

  *In early 1962, the University of Chicago experienced sit-ins by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to oppose segregated off-campus residential areas.

  *Date supplied from postmark.

  *Editor and co-founder or the New York Review of Books Robert B. Silvers (1929–2017).

  *R. B. Silvers to SP, 27 March 1962; held by Library of Congress. Silvers rejected ‘The Babysitters’, ‘Wuthering Heights’, ‘Magi’, ‘A Life’, ‘Candles’, and ‘Small Hours’ [‘Barren Woman’].

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘Private Ground’, Harper’s (August 1962): 55; Sylvia Plath, ‘Leaving Early’, Harper’s (December 1962): 82.

  *According to SP’s submissions list, she sent ‘Blackberrying’, ‘The Surgeon at 2 a.m.’, ‘Mirror’, ‘The Moon and the Yew Tree’, ‘The Babysitters’, ‘Little Fugue’, ‘An Appearance’, and ‘Crossing the Water’.

  *MacBeth’s poem ‘Report to The Director’ quoted in Time 79 (9 March 1962): 92–5.

  *Poems by George MacBeth.

  *Automobile Association, founded in 1905.

  *Judith Jones to SP, 3 April 1962; held by University of Texas as Austin.

  *Pell Cruickshank.

  *The last sentence of this letter is damaged. The text appearing in < > is supplied by the editors based on the remaining evidence.

  *Ted Hughes, ‘The Poetry of Keith Douglas’, BBC Third Programme (31 May 1962).

  *Ted Hughes, ‘Introduction’, Leonard Baskin: Woodcuts and Engravings (London: R. W. S. Galleries, 1962): 3. The exhibition was held at R. W. S. Galleries, 26 Conduit Street, London, 1–26 May 1962.

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘Stars from the Dordogne’: ‘I shut my eyes / And drink the small night chill like news of home’ (Collected Poems: 166).

  *On 25 March 1962, the Ladies’ Home Journal announced it was changing from monthly production to ten issues a year.

  *Honourable Robert Erskine (1930– ); Erskine is listed in SP’s address book at St George’s Gallery, 7 Cork Street, London. See also Neville Wallis, ‘Straight from the Wood’, The Observer (4 November 1962): 29, which refers to ‘the American Leonard Baskin (whose brooding figures are stored in Robert Erskine’s portfolios at St George’s Gallery in Cork Street)’.

  *See TH to Leonard Baskin, [August 1961], published in Letters of Ted Hughes: 186–7; original held by British Library.

  *David Sillitoe (1962– ).

  *Ruth Fainlight, ‘The Sapphic Moon’, Encounter 18 (February 1962): 77.

  *A reference to Robert Graves, The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth (London: Faber & Faber, 1948).

  *Date supplied from postmark.

  *J. Arthur Dixon birthday card.

  *The photographs are no longer with the letter.

  *W. S. Merwin, ‘As By Water’, New Yorker (7 April 1962): 47.

  *Date supplied from internal evidence.

  *On Hallmark Contemporary birthday card.

  *Swedish writer and translator Siv Arb (1931–2015).

  *TH was featured with a photograph and mention in Philip Toynbee, ‘From Virgil to Kingsley Amis’, The Observer (22 April 1962): 20.

  *According to SP’s Letts Royal Office Diary Tablet for 1962, she planned to serve spaghetti and lemon meringue pie.

  *Elizabeth Sigmund and David Compton.

  *Possibly John A. and Sarah A. Rose, who were neighbours of the Kanes at 6 Holland Park, London W.11. ‘Roses’ is also a well-known brand of the Cadbury confectionery company.

  *A possible
reference to Pearl Primus, whom SP saw at Smith College on 7 February 1951; see Letters of Sylvia Plath, Vol. 1, 277. Alternatively, a possible reference to another participant in the interview series, jazz singer and entertainer Adelaide Hall; the others were advertising representative Dick Danners; newsman Arthur Radin and his wife Angelica Mason; and actor and song writer James Dyrenforth.

  *The photographs are no longer with the letter.

  *Possibly Ted Hughes, ‘Her Husband’, Harper’s 223 (December 1961): 28.

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘Among the Narcissi’, New Yorker (3 August 1963): 29.

  *Howard Moss to SP, 18 April 1962; held by New York Public Library; Moss rejected ‘Crossing the Water’, ‘An Appearance’, and ‘Little Fugue’.

  *Judith Jones to SP, 3 April 1962; held by University of Texas as Austin.

  *See Harold Strauss to SP, 26 June 1952; held by Lilly Library. The letter expressed interest in publishing a novel. See Letters of Sylvia Plath, Vol. 1, 463.

  *Marybeth Little Weston; former college board editor at Mademoiselle during SP’s guest editorship (as Marybeth Little) and former gardening editor of House & Garden magazine. Weston was interested in writing a piece on SP and TH for Horizon magazine.

  *Date supplied from internal evidence.

  *SP’s letter is at the end of a letter begun by TH, which has not been transcribed. For TH’s portion, see Letters of Ted Hughes: 198.

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘Oblongs’, New Statesman (18 May 1962): 724; review of Peter Hughes, The Emperor’s Oblong Pancake; Tomi Ungerer, The Three Robbers; Wanda Gg, The Funny Thing; Benjamin Spock, Dr Spock Talks with Mothers; Elizabeth and Gerald Rose, The Big River; Joan Cass and William Stobbs, The Cat Show. Ted Hughes, ‘Dr. Seuss’, New Statesman (18 May 1962): 726; review of Dr Seuss, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish; Eilís Dillon, The Cat’s Opera; Gavin Maxwell, The Otter’s Tale; Marcelle Vérité, Animals of the Forest; Eric Roberts, Oddities of Animal Life.

  *Brer Rabbit is a brand name of sugarcane molasses, a favourite ingredient of SP’s.

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘Elm’, written on 19 April 1962.

  *SP’s and TH’s fishing rods appeared at auction via Bonhams on 21 March 2018.

  *Cf. SP’s ‘Wintering’, Collected Poems, 217–19.

  *‘along two three’ appears in the original. The three poems SP sent with ‘Three Women’ were ‘Elm’, ‘The Rabbit Catcher’, and ‘Event’.

  *The local playground is off Barton Street, North Tawton.

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘The Beekeeper’s Daughter’, The Colossus: ‘The Golden Rain Tree drips its powder down’, (London: Heinemann, 1960): 75; (New York: Knopf, 1962): 73.

  *Assia Wevill sent SP the materials and instructions for the tapestry. See Assia Wevill to SP, 22 May 1962; held by British Library. Wevill indicates that SP was interested in The Sunday Times Rose Bouquet, printed in ‘Mainly for Women’, Sunday Times Magazine (17 January 1960): 19; the tapestry was designed by Anita Skjold. SP started but did not finish the tapestry. After SP’s death, Elizabeth Sigmund found and completed the tapestry; however, over the years it eventually ‘crumbled and disintegrated into nothing’. See Elizabeth Sigmund and Gail Crowther, Sylvia Plath in Devon: A Year’s Turning (Stroud: Fonthill Media, 2014): 70.

  *At the bottom of the first page of the letter, SP wrote ‘(I didn’t know this was here!)’. She is referring to an abandoned letter by TH which begins ‘Court Green, North Tawton, Devon. // Dear Bill, Th’.

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘Three Women: A Poem for Three Voices’, BBC Third Programme (19 August 1962); re-broadcast 13 September 1962.

  *Ingmar Bergman, Brink of Life (1958); also known as So Close to Life. So Close to Life played at the Academy Cinema, London, beginning 24 February 1961.

  *According to SP’s Letts Royal Office Diary Tablet for 1962, she met Douglas Cleverdon for lunch in London on 3 July 1962.

  *Ted Hughes, ‘Keith Douglas’, BBC Third Programme (31 May 1962).

  *English poet Keith Douglas (1920–44); Douglas was killed in action during the invasion of Normandy.

  *Marie Josephine Castellain Douglas (b. 1887).

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘Sylvia Plath Speaks on a Poet’s View of Novel Writing’, BBC Home Service (7 July 1962); re-broadcast 13 July 1962; recorded 26 June 1962. Published as ‘The Novelist and the Poet’, The Listener (7 July 1977): 26; and as ‘A Comparison’, Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams (London: Faber & Faber, 1977): 62–4. See Phillippa Pearce to SP, 30 May 1962; held by BBC Written Archives Centre.

  *Ted Hughes, The Wound, BBC Third Programme (14 July 1962).

  *Marvin Kane, The Day the Money Stopped (adaptation of Brendan Gill’s 1957 novel), BBC Home Service (28 May 1962); a note of the performance is in SP’s Letts Royal Office Diary Tablet for 1962.

  *Charles William M. Pollard (1908–95), a Devon beekeeper who lived in Mill Lane, North Tawton, and at ‘Lauriston’, Prospect Hill, Okehampton.

  *SP’s letter is at the end of a letter begun by TH, which has not been transcribed.

  *Major Stanhope Mince Billyeald (1893–1968) and his wife Bertha (Manly) Billyeald (1900–68), who lived at ‘Eve Leary’, Eggesford Road, Winkleigh. SP and TH met them at a meeting of the Devon Beekeepers.

  *Criminal Investigation Department.

  *Letter accompanied by a half-sheet of pink Smith College Memorandum paper and a signed and inscribed copy of The Colossus (Knopf): ‘For Alfred Young Fisher – / my not-forgotten maestro, / a second circus – / Sylvia Plath / Court Green / North Tawton / Devonshire / June 7, 1962’.

  *Cf. SP’s bee poems, particularly ‘The Bee Meeting’, ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box’, and ‘Stings’.

  *George T. Manly (c. 1873–1962).

  *Terence C. Macnamara (c. 1903–78) and his wife Kathleen Jones Macnamara (1901–87); lived at Cadbury House, near Thorverton, Devon. According to SP’s Letts Royal Office Diary Tablet for 1962, they visited Mrs Macnamara on 13 and 20 June.

  *Ted Hughes, ‘Creatures of the Air’, Listening and Writing, BBC Home Service (Schools), 29 June 1962; recorded 26 June 1962. SP and TH saw the film Last Year at Marienbad which played at the International Film Theatre, 90–2 Westbourne Grove, London. See TH to David and Assia Wevill, c. 27 June 1962 (incomplete draft); held by University of Victoria.

  *Philippa Pearce (1920–2006); producer at the BBC and author of children’s books.

  *The enclosure is no longer with the letter.

  *Date supplied from internal evidence.

  *The photograph is no longer with the letter.

  *Thom Gunn, My Sad Captains and Other Poems (London: Faber & Faber, 1961).

  *A reference to English textile designer, writer, and social theorist William Morris (1834–96).

  *Sylvia Plath, ‘The Surgeon at 2 a.m.’, The Poet’s Voice, BBC Third Programme (24 August 1962); recorded 10 August 1962. Also, Ted Hughes, ‘The Road to Easington’ and ‘Out’, The Poet’s Voice, BBC Third Programme (24 August 1962); recorded 10 August 1962. See George MacBeth to SP, 14 June 1962; held by BBC Written Archives Centre.

  *American poet Caroyln Kizer (1925–2014). SP read Carolyn Kizer, ‘The Great Blue Heron’, The Weird Ones, BBC Third Programme (4 November 1962); probably recorded 9 August 1962.