Letters Home: Correspondence, 1950-1963

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Dear Daddy, I hope you are not alarmed, you should not be, unless you know where one of the Zepps went. I have heard that it raided London (up the Strand) and caused heavy causalities. But this I know because I saw, and so did everyone else in the house. Reading Olivia’s letter to her, Noky says: “Our darling, gorgeous girl Olivia. We are the proudest mum and dad ever. Gran, Po and James are all so proud but we will warn you now, Gran is wanting a word about your swearing!” As people take sides and to the streets to call for an end to human suffering they should be applauded, lauded and commended. But a caveat to this well-intentioned and honourable endeavour should be added to that outcry and righteous anger. And that is, it should not, however justified they feel, become an outpouring of vitriol and hate. It is all too human to see events through a veil of incandescent rage and anger at what we see but it blinds us from demanding what is needed – meaningful dialogue and action that could lead to a significant and permanent cessation of hostilities.

Regardless, these letters demonstrate the sizzling passion and ambition in Sylvia Plath as screaming, and, yes, I do believe that Sylvia Plath really did mostly adore life and the world. There was a fear in her, of making the wrong move; a move that would stain potential forever. Despite the fate she took, her enthusiasm is a lot more notable to her character and entire being, than her depression. While the Belfast Trust drawing up a business strategy is a hugely positive step, we’ve repeatedly been told that it can’t be implemented without an Assembly. And while we wait for an Assembly, women are dying. Women are receiving non-specialist care, separated from their baby, causing lifelong trauma.But it’s too easy to lay his emotional contortions at his mother’s feet. He was deeply loved by her: a gift, however claustrophobic at times, that should have made relationships easier, not more difficult. “When I am in I want to be out, and when I am out I want to be in,” he writes to Eva from Belfast, of his faltering social life. We know that while suicide is the leading cause of maternal death, with the right care, it is preventable. We know an MBU to provide specialist inpatient care for mums experiencing severe postnatal illness and their babies would save lives, but Northern Ireland remains the only part of the UK that doesn’t have one. Both Jones and another of his lovers, Maeve Brennan, believed that Eva got in the way of Larkin’s relationship with them, and at one point in these letters, Larkin writes expressly of the fact that he must neglect either Eva or Monica over Christmas, and how impossible this is for him. Nonetheless, she does write beautifully, and although some of the things she wrote could have been lifted directly from my diaries without even needing to change any of the specifics, more often than not I found myself reading a rather perfect evocation of something I had never thought to write down, or had not been able to express properly when I tried. Something I thought was mine alone. Reading Noky’s letter to her, Olivia says: “To my best friend, from the second I was born I have looked up to you in every single way – we were meant to be sisters.”

How are your hands now dear? Mine are very sore, so chapped, and my left hand has got several chilblains on it and they do irritate. I could scratch it to bits. Have you been receiving the books I have sent you dear. I am very pleased to say dear I am keeping very well indeed, and I trust you are the same. Big Brother gathers the group and says: “Seeing as you’ve all been such angels while staying in my house, I thought I’d treat you to a little taste of heaven.” And what social history is here. You can almost smell it. This is a realm, now entirely disappeared, in which Louis Armstrong plays Bridlington, every posh dinner begins with celery soup, and little girls still keep their bedclothes in nightdress cases, as Kitty once did. It’s like visiting another planet – a chilly one, where the immersion heater is on only very rarely. Well darling I don't know much more to say now, so will close with fondest love and kisses from your loving little girl. Emily.The Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, which is not fully operational, has had the effect of passively establishing the principle of peace and bringing it about. For many decades, Northern Ireland only knew of war, but the GFA/BA sold people the idea and ideal of peace and the possibility of reconciliation. We here in Ireland know only too well those voices – voices who were opposed to an end to a new beginning; those who remained wedded to the past because they had no trust or belief or place in the future. Those voices are omnipresent throughout the world, whatever the conflict; and those who march and protest for peace and an end to violence must be vigilant and stand up to those who would rather see war as a means to pursue their own narrow agendas. Otherwise the song will remain the same. Housemates are gathered in the lounge and Big Brother says: “Housemates. Before the gates of heaven close for the day, I wanted to give you all the ultimate heavenly gift – your letters from home.”