Recovering from an appendectomy in London, on 6 March 1961, Sylvia Plath wrote to her mother: "& I must say I have secretly enjoyed having meals in bed, backrubs & nothing to do but read (I’ve discovered Agatha Christie – just the thing for hospital reading – I am a whodunit fan now)..." (Letters of Sylvia Plath, Vol. II 584). However, as Plath was attuned to popular culture, she had heard of Christie before, signing a letter to Elinor Friedman roughly six years earlier on 28 September 1955, "Hercule Poirot." Later, on 15 August 1962, Plath and Hughes attempted to dust off their recent marital issues to attend a performance of Christie's play The Mousetrap with Olive Higgins Prouty, then performing at Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, London.
There is no proof that Sylvia Plath read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, though it is evident that she had a familiarity with his famous creation, the detective Sherlock Holmes. She cited both Watson and Sherlock (by the familiar first name) in her 23 November 1955 letter to J. Mallory Wober: "'BUT, my dear Watson,' says a still small voice, 'the letter happens to be addressed to you.' So it is, thinks Sherlock. Smart chap, that Watson; I'll have to make him a Doctor one of these days." (Letters of Sylvia Plath, Vol. I 1022). The most obvious reference is in Plath's 4 October 1962 poem "The Detective." Of course the poem is littered with personal evidence, but Plath is able to bring in the voice of the fictional man; and in fact the speaker of the poem we could go so far as to say is male.
Court Green is located not too far from Dartmoor, where the majority of Doyle's novel The Hound of the Baskervilles is set. The novel, which is wonderful by the way, has evocative descriptions of the Dartmoor's landscape and its unique tors. In Chapter 12 of the novel, "Death on the Moor," there are some passages which suggest a more well known poem than "The Detective."
Not just "The Detective," but perhaps "Daddy," too. Upon seeing the dead body on the moor, Waston cried "The brute! The brute!" (130). On the next page, realizing they had mistakenly identified the dead body as that of Sir Henry Baskerville, Watson tells us that Holmes "uttered a cry and bent over the body. Now he was dancing and laughing and wringing my hand..." (131). A major reappearing item in the story is a boot… From time to time, the description of the tors recalls to me the "Ghastly statue with one grey toe / Big as a frisco seal" (see Collected Poems 222-4). Imagine a tor, not quite the size of, but the same shape as, the Matterhorn. Yes, "Daddy" may have some Holmesian/Doyleian influences.
Back to "The Detective" and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Certain images in the poem leads me to believe that Plath did read this novel and that it could be a source for the poem. (As Plath did see films, it is possible she saw either the 1939 American or the 1959 British adaptation.) In Doyle's book, the hound is described with fire bursting from its mouth and that its "eyes glowed with a smouldering glare" and that in death the hounds' "jaws seemed to be dripping with a bluish flame, and the small, deep-set eyes were ringed with fire" (151, 152). This was done, Watson tells us, with "Phosphorus" (153). In Plath's poem, it is the moon, the speaker notices, that is "embalmed in phosphorus" (Collected Poems 209). Plath's immersion with her Devonian countryside, her gift of capturing landscapes in her poetry, and her sponge-like mind for for literary and visual sources provide her with enough inspiration that we can see many of them at play in her works.
The initial, variant title of "The Detective" was "The Millstones", which Plath changed very quickly after drafting. "The Millstones" is suggestive of a possible way in which the body in the poem is disposed of as it is, after all, "a case without a body" (Collected Poems 209). Millstones are used for grinding grains such as wheat. So we are in some ways, by the initial title, given the resolution to the mystery and I agree with Plath here with the title change. Disused millstones dot the Dartmoor landscape (see here for examples) and provide a possible clue as to their temporary inclusion in the poem...presuming Plath saw some in her time in Devon. North Tawton itself had Newland Mill, which is located near the River Taw.
In The Other Ariel, Lynda K. Bundzten writes that read "metaphorically, we see that the woman has submitted to the pressure of being physically absorbed into the house's walls and furnishings" (71). I agree, but also while not overtly associated with Plath's other Holocaust poems, such as "Lady Lazarus" and "Daddy," there is undoubtedly Holocaust imagery contained in the poem. Plath writes in "The Detective": "The fingers were tamping a woman into the wall, // A body into a pipe, and the smoke rising. This is the smell of years burning..." and this is suggestive of the cremation enacted by the Nazis (Collected Poems 208).
Anyway, something to think about...
There is no proof that Sylvia Plath read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, though it is evident that she had a familiarity with his famous creation, the detective Sherlock Holmes. She cited both Watson and Sherlock (by the familiar first name) in her 23 November 1955 letter to J. Mallory Wober: "'BUT, my dear Watson,' says a still small voice, 'the letter happens to be addressed to you.' So it is, thinks Sherlock. Smart chap, that Watson; I'll have to make him a Doctor one of these days." (Letters of Sylvia Plath, Vol. I 1022). The most obvious reference is in Plath's 4 October 1962 poem "The Detective." Of course the poem is littered with personal evidence, but Plath is able to bring in the voice of the fictional man; and in fact the speaker of the poem we could go so far as to say is male.
Court Green is located not too far from Dartmoor, where the majority of Doyle's novel The Hound of the Baskervilles is set. The novel, which is wonderful by the way, has evocative descriptions of the Dartmoor's landscape and its unique tors. In Chapter 12 of the novel, "Death on the Moor," there are some passages which suggest a more well known poem than "The Detective."
Not just "The Detective," but perhaps "Daddy," too. Upon seeing the dead body on the moor, Waston cried "The brute! The brute!" (130). On the next page, realizing they had mistakenly identified the dead body as that of Sir Henry Baskerville, Watson tells us that Holmes "uttered a cry and bent over the body. Now he was dancing and laughing and wringing my hand..." (131). A major reappearing item in the story is a boot… From time to time, the description of the tors recalls to me the "Ghastly statue with one grey toe / Big as a frisco seal" (see Collected Poems 222-4). Imagine a tor, not quite the size of, but the same shape as, the Matterhorn. Yes, "Daddy" may have some Holmesian/Doyleian influences.
Back to "The Detective" and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Certain images in the poem leads me to believe that Plath did read this novel and that it could be a source for the poem. (As Plath did see films, it is possible she saw either the 1939 American or the 1959 British adaptation.) In Doyle's book, the hound is described with fire bursting from its mouth and that its "eyes glowed with a smouldering glare" and that in death the hounds' "jaws seemed to be dripping with a bluish flame, and the small, deep-set eyes were ringed with fire" (151, 152). This was done, Watson tells us, with "Phosphorus" (153). In Plath's poem, it is the moon, the speaker notices, that is "embalmed in phosphorus" (Collected Poems 209). Plath's immersion with her Devonian countryside, her gift of capturing landscapes in her poetry, and her sponge-like mind for for literary and visual sources provide her with enough inspiration that we can see many of them at play in her works.
The initial, variant title of "The Detective" was "The Millstones", which Plath changed very quickly after drafting. "The Millstones" is suggestive of a possible way in which the body in the poem is disposed of as it is, after all, "a case without a body" (Collected Poems 209). Millstones are used for grinding grains such as wheat. So we are in some ways, by the initial title, given the resolution to the mystery and I agree with Plath here with the title change. Disused millstones dot the Dartmoor landscape (see here for examples) and provide a possible clue as to their temporary inclusion in the poem...presuming Plath saw some in her time in Devon. North Tawton itself had Newland Mill, which is located near the River Taw.
In The Other Ariel, Lynda K. Bundzten writes that read "metaphorically, we see that the woman has submitted to the pressure of being physically absorbed into the house's walls and furnishings" (71). I agree, but also while not overtly associated with Plath's other Holocaust poems, such as "Lady Lazarus" and "Daddy," there is undoubtedly Holocaust imagery contained in the poem. Plath writes in "The Detective": "The fingers were tamping a woman into the wall, // A body into a pipe, and the smoke rising. This is the smell of years burning..." and this is suggestive of the cremation enacted by the Nazis (Collected Poems 208).
Anyway, something to think about...
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