Sylvia Plath | Autograph letter signed, to Edith and William Hughes, [10 December 1956]

Sylvia Plath

Autograph letter signed, to Edith and William Hughes ("Dear Ted's mother & dad")

on their new life together in their Cambridge flat, Hughes's teaching ("...I'm sure having Ted as a teacher will be something they'll remember all their lives - he's so handsome & strong, too - not like most teachers..."), her studying, and both of their writing ("...Ted is writing another good story & more poems..."), 2 pages, 8vo (177 x 140mm), blue writing paper, 55 Eltisley Avenue, Cambridge, "Monday morning" [10 December 1956], envelope (with unrelated typed note on the reverse)

SYLVIA PLATH ON THE EARLY DAYS OF MARRIED DOMESTICITY. The couple had just moved to their final Cambridge home, the ground floor flat in a Victorian terraced house close to Grantchester Meadows. Hughes was teaching English at the Coleridge Secondary Modern School for Boys, whilst Plath completed her degree. At this point she enjoyed domestic routines and especially cooking, although the kitchen was small, the house had neither central heating nor hot water, and they had to share a bathroom with another couple. Ted Hughes's moving recollections of their first home are given in his poem '55 Eltisley' from Birthday Letters.

LITERATURE:

The Letters of Sylvia Plath: Volume Two, p.30