Dutch author Connie Palmen has told an unexpected story.
I’ve read some of the poetry written by English poet Ted Hughes (1930-1998) and American poet Sylvia Plath (1932-1963). I had not read any biographies of either poet. I know the basic facts of their lives – their marriage in 1956, Plath’s death by suicide in 1963 – but my knowledge was woefully incomplete. I knew that Hughes had been the British Poet Laureate for a time, and I had seen his memorial stone in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey.
At some point over the years, I’d come to understand that Plath had become something of a feminist icon. Related to this, Hughes was seen as something of a villain regarding his marriage to Plath and often blamed for her suicide. Her death would dog him for 35 years, until his own death. And suicide became something of a tragic theme in Hughes’ life – the woman he left Plath for committed suicide as well, and his and Plath’s son Nicholas committed suicide.
To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.
