26 September, 2005 | Leave a Comment
You knew I’d find a Sylvia Plath landmark nearby – it was only a matter of time! Turns out there is not one, but two Plath sites within a couple blocks of where I’m living. I think they’re actually located in Holborn, not Bloomsbury, but that’s a minor technicality. In Queen’s Square there is St. George-the-Martyr church, where Plath and Ted Hughes were married on Bloomsday, June 16th, 1956. It was rather difficult to take a photo of this church because it’s in a square that’s densely populated with large buildings and trees. Plus, the people at the pub next door kept staring at me, wondering why anyone would want a photo of what is, in all honesty, a very unremarkable church.
Nearby, Plath and Hughes spent their wedding night at 18 Rugby Street, in a flat belonging to one of Hughes’s friends:
In his collection Birthday Letters, Hughes included a poem called “18 Rugby Street”:
We walked across south London to Fetter Lane
And your hotel. Opposite the entrance
On a bombsite becoming a building site
We clutched each other giddily
For safety and went in a barrel together
Over some Niagara. Falling
In the roar of soul your scar told me –
Like its secret name, or its password –
How you had tried to kill yourself. And I heard
Without ceasing for a moment to kiss you
As if a sober star had whispered it
Above the revolving, rumbling city: stay clear.
Anglofille said @ 9:32 pm | literary, london & uk |
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Just thought I’d say hi. I actually live at 18 Rugby Street, and funnily enough I’m a big fan of both Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes - so it’s a pretty special place for me to be living. There will be a couple of rooms available to rent soon if anyone’s interested!
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Anita Says:
December 13th, 2005 at 10:56 pmAnd Bobby, given that I’m a fan of both Sylvia and Ted, when I come to visit next year, I’d like to pop over for a visit to see you. If there are still rooms for rent, I’ll take one.
But I could never see the point of tuna and sweet corn...
