Ted Hughes’ poetry gets a push from Sylvia Plath

On October 19, 1956, Sylvia Plath penned a letter to her husband, poet Ted Hughes, having heard about the 92nd Street Y and Harper’s poetry contest that was to kickstart his career. The contest, open to any unpublished poet and touting a prize of publication by Harper’s, was detailed to Plath by fellow poet John Press one evening, “during an evening filled with gossip about the love affairs of fellow poets.” With conviction, she urged Hughes to enter, writing:

“The hitch, if such there be, is that the judges are: wh auden, marianne moore, and o god, stephen spender. what queer bed-fellows. but I trust miss moore’s exactness & love of form; and you certainly have enough wit to win auden and social war consciousness to please spender.”

Although Hughes had heard of the competition, he “wasn’t greatly interested.” Plath plead a convincing case, changed his tune, and the following month she typed and submitted his manuscript.

The win would change Plath’s tune too, in turn. Upon announcing the triumph to Hughes’ parents, she revealed not just that she knew all three judges, but deemed they “are not mealy-mouthed little poets (who I honestly believe are scared to publish Ted’s work for fear his brilliance will eclipse their own piddling poems – nor un-poet editors – but the 3 greatest living poets today,” emphasizing and quite accurately predicting the imminent esteem the publication would herald upon her sweetie’s career. Dedicated to Plath, The Hawk in the Rain thrusted Hughes into the literary limelight.

Plath’s work has been highlighted at 92NY twice since her passing, once in 1973 and again in 2018. Hughes went on to visit 92NY a total of three times during his career.

Photograph courtesy of Mortimer Rare Book Collection, Smith College Special Collections