jonkers rare books
gested revisions altered the poem drastically from the sections which are quoted in this letter. In all events, her lengthy, detailed and astute criticism is clearly a crucial part of Ted’s writing process. This was something that was acknowledged and appreciated by Ted, who had written to his brother earlier that year, “As a result of her influence I have written continually and every day better since I met her. She is a very fine critic of my work, and abuses just those parts of it that I daren’t confess to myself are unworthy.” He also confessed in a letter to his sister Olwyn that Plath was, “as fine a literary critic as I have met.” Plath too, sought criticism from her spouse on her work, enclosing with this letter a typed draft of ‘Street Song’. Despite informing Ted that the poem could be “attacked brutally”, he found no fault in it in his reply, “The movement is very good - firm, discreet, passionate. And the statement open, not tortoised in imagery” (The Letters Of Ted Hughes, p. 65). This indicates that the changes between the version in this letter, and that which appeared in Plath’s Collected Poems were made at Plath’s own discretion. An exceptional exemplar of Plath’s influence on both the business and creative aspects of Hughes’s work. PROVENANCE: Ted Hughes (1930 - 1998); Frieda Hughes (1960-). Price: £65,000
15
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog