Plath and Hughes Context Flashcards
How old was Plath when she died?
30 (1932 - 1963)
What year did Plath and Hughes marry?
1956
When did her father die?
- Otto Plath was a beekeeper
When did Plath try to commit suicide?
She tried to take her life aged 20, but was hospitalised and treated with electric shock therapy
Where did she meet Hughes?
She met him at Cambridge and they married 4 months later
How did Plath and Hughes’ marriage break down?
In unpublished letters to her therapist between 1960 and 1963, Plath alleged that Hughes beat her and that he told her he wished she were dead. They separated in 1962.
Where was Hughes born?
Was born in 1930 in Mytholmroyd, a large village in Yorkshire. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and swimming. His parents owned a newspaper and tobacco shop.
What were Hughes’ jobs post university?
Gardener, nightwatchman and a reader for a film company
When was the atomic bomb created?
First tested in 1945 after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - mutually assured destruction
Context for Crossing the Water?
References to Greek mythology - sirens are beautiful yet dangerous creatures and Charon is the river man of Hades who carries souls across the river styx.
Could reflect her feelings about moving from America to England.
‘Plath’s feelings about both England and America were ambivalent’ - Brain
Who did Hughes have an affair with?
Assia Wevill
Context for Heptonstall?
Heptonstall is a small village in Yorkshire where Plath is buried
Heptonstall is Anglo Saxon for hope
Context for thistles?
This was written in 1967, one of the first poems he wrote after his three year hiatus after Plath’s suicide
Context for Tulips?
This was written in March 1961, following her appendicitis surgery
Plath tried to take her own life in 1953
Context for Finisterre?
Hughes and Plath went on holiday to Finisterre
Plath had three suicide attempts in her life
Context for Rain?
Fox visited Hughes in a dream to get him to swap from English to anthropology
Context for Letter in November?
Court Green was alongside a churchland
Written in November 1962 just after her and Hughes’ separation
Context for November?
Reminiscent of Hughes upbringing in Yorkshire and his previous job at London zoo
Context for Ariel?
This was written on 27th October 1962 - her 30th birthday
This was her favourite poem and Ariel was the name of her horse
This was the Old Testament name given to Jerusalem, meaning ‘God’s lion’
Allusion to Godiva - a landowner was imposing a higher tax so his wife rode naked through the town in protest. The townspeople promised not to look, except from peeping Tom
Context for The Horses?
Written in early 1957 - horses are a staple of war (WW2)
Hughes’ father was one of the few surviving members of the doomed Gallipoli campaign
Context for Spinster?
Reference to ‘babel’ in the first stanza is a biblical allusion to the huge tower which god saw as a front to his authority, He punished the people who built it by forcing them to speak different languages
Reference to ‘bedlam’ in the fourth stanza, which is an infamous mental institution
Written in 1956, the year they married
Gender stereotypes of the 1950s
Context for Wind?
Just all the toxicness of his relationship with Plath
Context for A Birthday Present?
Written in September 1962 after their separation
She miscarried her second pregnancy
Context for The Lovepet
Violent imagery is reminiscent of a toxic relationship - infidelity with Assia Wevill on top of Plath claiming he was abusive
