Exceedingly rare letter containing Plath’s poem Lament, a work which explored the lifelong impact of her father’s death 558. Sylvia Plath. Poet, novelist and short
story writer (1932–1963), who committed suicide after her separation from her husband and a long bout with depression. Virtually unobtainable TLS, one page, 8.5 x 11, November 23, 1959. Letter to Miss Reutlinger of Minneapolis, MN, transmitting the text of a poem published a few years previously. In full: “Thank you for your card. ‘Lament’ was published several years ago by the New Orleans Poetry Journal, but I’ve lost track of both the date and number, and I think most libraries don’t carry such very little magazines. I have a copy of the poem to hand, being in the throes of moving and clearing house, so here it is. Lament The sting of bees took away my father / Who walked in a swarming shroud of wings / And scorned the tick of the falling weather. Lightning licked in a yellow lather / But missed the mark with snaking fangs: / The sting of bees took away my father. Trouncing the sea like a raging bather/ He rode the flood in a pride of prongs/ and scorned the tick of the falling weather. A scowl of sun struck down my mother/ Tolling her grave with golden gongs/ But the sting of bees took away my father. He counted the guns of god a bother/ Laughed at the ambush of angels’ tongues/ And scorned the tick of the falling weather. O ransack the four winds and find another/ Man who can mangle the grin of kings: the sting of bees took away my father/ Who scorned the tick of the falling weather. No, I haven’t published a volume of poems yet, but I hope to manage this in a year or so if fates and editors are willing.” Letter is affixed to a larger board and framed to an overall size of 11.75 x 14.25. In very good condition, with trimmed corners, intersecting folds, a bit of light soiling and a few tape remnants to edges. Plath’s ‘Lament’ is a villanelle, a traditional form of poetry that she often
used during her college years. Its prevalent theme, the death of her father, is often found in her other work. Her father, Otto Plath, was a professor of biology and German at Boston University. As alluded to in the poem, he was an entomologist with an expertise on bees and wrote the book Bumblebees and Their Ways in 1934. In 1940, when Plath was only eight, he died of advanced diabetes. The trauma of his death is thought to have deeply influenced Plath’s work and to have contributed to her later emotional problems. In this letter she presents the poem and hopes for a published volume of her poetry “if the fates and editors are willing.” They were, and her first collection of poetry, The Colossus and Other Poems, was published the following year. Anything signed by Plath is practically nonexistent and this is the first example we have ever offered. With its outstanding poetic content, it would make a superb addition to any literary collection. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.…(MB $500)
Art & Literature
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