Sylvia Plath's Excuses

In Box 10 of Plath mss II at the Lilly Library is perhaps one of my favorite documents Sylvia Plath created. Folder 6 in said box contains a six lovely and wonderful items that were once a part of Plath's day-to-day life. The folder name on the finding aid is simply "Miscellaneous."

The first item in the folder is a typed list of poetry and prose submissions, annotated with acceptances (dates, periodicals, and money earned) from 1948 to 1952. It is the first of such submissions lists which have been more famously made use of for the 1959 to 1963 period (these leafs are held by Smith College).

The second item is a beautiful handwritten thing of "Excuses for unwanted dates".

The third item is a catalog of "boys gone out with [in the] 1948-1949 (school year)". The back page is "Boys who asked & were unlucky".

Fourth, is a two-paragraph "Leaves from a Date-Palm Tree" in which Plath incorporates the last names of the boys she dated as part of the narrative. The surnames include Still, Shepardson, Sides, Fox, Norton, Hoag, Elwell, Mason, Hall, Russell, Hodges, Short, Stout, Bothfeld, Pollard, Gasse.

Fifth is the sheet music and lyrics for "Class Song - 1950". Plath wrote the words, the music was by Robert Blakesley.

The second item, "Excuses" warrants more description. There are two names that she forbade herself from dating: Paul and Jay. She drew a mug shot---front view and side view---and offered $1000 for "extermination." That is rather extreme. The four actual excuses are 1) previous date; 2) babysitting; 3) an infectious disease including, as a final deterrent, cancer; and 4) that she had turned communist.

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