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Sylvia Plath's Desk

When Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes moved to Court Green in September 1961, they had abundant living space for the first time in their married lives. Each even got a room to serve as a study. In a 15 September 1961 letter to her mother, Plath writes about settling in Court Green and that her brother Warren “has been really a wonderful part of the family “ (429). While he was there, Warren Plath assisted in “sanding an immense elm plank which will make me my first real capacious writing table” (429).

Over the next 14 months, Plath would probably write all her new poems and stories on this elm plank. And probably also typed letters home and made entries in her journals.

That elm wood desk was part of Plath’s estate sale that, in 1981, would go to the Mortimer Rare Book Room at Smith College. How wonderful and coincidental that Plath lived on Elmwood Road! To celebrate this piece of elm wood and the works composed on it, here is a badly shot video. It hangs in the offices of the Mortimer Rare Book Room. Its position hanging on a wall is highly reminiscent of Han Solo hanging frozen in carbonite in Jabba the Hut’s palace on Tattooine.

I had meant to post this in October but other news and posts kind of took over!





If you’re interested in just seeing a still image of questionably better quality, please see “These Ghostly Archives” from Plath Profiles 2. The desk is on page 189 but, having co-written the piece with Dr. Gail Crowther, I’d encourage you to read the whole thing (if you haven’t done so already)! Like Star Wars, there was a sequel, “These Ghostly Archives, Redux.” And we’re in the early stages of a third installment...

See all Sylvia Plath Info YouTube videos.

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