I walked around Hebden Bridge a small town Calderdale not far from the Lancashire border on this last bank holiday. My good friend John and I walked up to the village of Heptonstall, this being a small village just outside Hebden Bridge.
Sylvia Plath born October 27 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, 1932– died 23 Fitzroy Road, London (house once lived in by WB Yeats) on February 11, 1963. Plath the American writer, poet and feminist icon is buried in the churchyard at Heptonstall here in Yorkshire. You can see the headstone in the photograph above.
Today primarily known for her poetry "Ariel" an anthology published 1965 after her death, Plath also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas.
After attending Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts Plath won a Fulbright scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge and it was at Cambridge that she met Yorkshire born poet Ted Hughes.
Plath killed herself at the age of 30, leaving two young children not long after Ted Hughes ran off with Assia Wevill, who also killed herself 6 years later. Ted Hughes today is perhaps best known in non poetry society for having had a wife and also a mistress commit suicide.
Sorry about the funny angle on the photo, there is a very pretty flower growing just in front of the gravestone as can be seen in this phograph. The headstone bears the inscription "Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted." Over the years the name "Hughes" has been hacked off several times.
I would recommend the film "Sylvia" 2003, Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig give bold, memorable performances as Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, I saw it on the big screen on release and now have the movie on DVD.
Heptonstall is a very attractive small village with unusually 2 churches in the same churchyard. I will post photos of these in the near future.
Posts
and her son recently committed suicide as well. Very sad.
ReplyDeleteBeing a literature major, I feel I must pay homage to your photo today! Thanks for taking this photo, Paul.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting Norwich Daily Photo and leaving your comment. Come back tomorrow for more of Fairhaven!
joy
A Pinay In EnglandYour Love CoachI, Woman
Not that your posts aren't interesting but todays is a really interesting one! Nice info.
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about where Sylvia Plath was buried, but I wouldn't have expected it to be in a country graveyard.
ReplyDeleteYour photo made me hunt out a poetry anthology and re-read some of her poems.
Very nice photos Paul and interesting information too. I will have to watch the movie.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know this, cheers for the post.
ReplyDeleteAs a devoted fan of ALL THINGS connected with Sylvia Plath I appreciate your photo of her headstone. I recommend the latest biography of the "other woman" Assia Wewill, entitled "Lover of Unreason". It confirms what an egotistical cad Ted Hughes was. Sylvia deserved better, although I'm sure she did suffer from a bio/chemical disorder leading her to suicide as her adult son just commited suicide this year.
ReplyDelete