Ted Hughes and Slyvia Plath in Paris, August 1956. Smith © Warren Plath
In September of 1956, a newly married Mr. & Mrs. Ted Hughes traveled to Yorkshire, where they stayed for the month with Hughes’ mother and father.
September 11, 1956, Yorkshire
Dearest Mother,
[…] I never thought I could like any country as well as the ocean, but these moors are really even better, with the great luminous emerald lights changing always, and the animals and wildness. Read Wuthering Heights again here and really felt it this time more than ever.
[…] I can’t for a minute think of [Ted] as someone “other” than the male counterpart of myself, always just that many steps of me intellectually and creatively so that I feel very feminine and admiring.
There is an animal farm across the street where we’ve been seeing baby pigs, calves, kittens and puppies. I really want my children to be brought up in the country, so you must get a little place, too, somewhere in the country or by the sea (we’ll buy it when we are rich) where we can alternate leaving our…children with you and Mrs. Hughes while we take vacations or travel. Our life will be constant adventure. […] This year will be a tough discipline, but I need it and so does Ted. We’ve talked much about our wedding in June and both of us are determined to have it. We both long for a kind of symbolic “town” ceremony, and it may be the last time I see my friends and relatives together for many, many years. So plan on it definitely…
Want simple ceremony with gala reception for all, lots of food and plenty of drink. Ted wants that, too, very much. […] Can’t wait to get to American and cook for him.
Am sending three stories to Mlle, with fingers crossed—my stories. We are full of projects, plans and love. […] VIVE THE 1957 WEDDING OF THE WRITING HUGHESES! All is perfectly quiet on the British front. Ted’s family’s dear. We both love you; can’t wait to share our life and times with you in America. Life is work and joy.
Much much love to you and Warrie—
Sivvy
+
FURTHER READING
For an interesting essay on Plath’s (complex) relationship with her mother, click here.
For Ted Hughes’ (detached, slightly unnerving) 1994 examination of Plath’s development as a writer of fiction, click here.
For a short, informative piece on the importance of “Mlle” (Mademoiselle) to a generation of female authors, written on the occassion of the magazine’s shuttering, click here.
Excerpted from Letters Home, edited by Aurelia Schober Plath, published by Harper & Row (1975).