When Diana Dykes discovered Aurelia Plath's
Letters Home on the shelves of
her local library, her life was to change in a way she could never have
foreseen. Letters Home is a compilation of the correspondence of Aurelia's
daughter Sylvia Plath, the poet, whose stormy marriage to former
Poet-Laureate Ted Hughes and her subsequent suicide made
international headlines. Moved by the story, Diana composed an epitaph poem
drawing a parallel between Sylvia's plight and the Icarus myth, and sent it
to the grieving Aurelia - a touching tribute to the memory of a tormented
poet who died so tragically in her prime of life. There followed a
series of revealing letters between Diana and Aurelia out of which was to
grow a deep and rewarding friendship.
Late Flowerings is a selection of poems inspired, in great part, by this
intense relationship, which lasted until Aurelia's death in 1994. Diana
writes with feeling though her occasional flurries of humour give some of
her poems a certain spikiness that firmly avoids any descent into
sentimentality. Her writing combines a consummate skill in managing a
variety of poetical forms and a freshness of expression that makes for a
very pleasant and often challenging read.
125 pp.
ISBN 0 9538281 0 7 £7.50
Bramber Press
