Letters Home: Correspondence, 1950-1963

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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. 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. It's difficult not to read her poetry and such autobiographically - I feel so desperately sorry for her because of how everything she did seems to be coloured by her marriage to Ted Hughes and her suicide and a sort of hysterical, whining feminism (and there is a little voice in my head that says that none of this would ever have happened if she was a man). Similarly, it's hard not to read her letters autobiographically, hard not to be continually searching for some evidence of a hormonal imbalance in the brain. And you find it, too, in what seems like the almost desperate happiness that comes through when she writes (though probably it is sincere and the desperation is the product of your imagination). And when she mentions her "old resilient optimism" and says she should " never commit suicide, because something unexpected always happens", you tut and shake your head in disbelief. Because doesn't this imply that she has already considered suicide? And is that not the saddest thing? In these letters to her mother, Sylvia Plath dares to admit her uncertainties, to reflect her personal fears, failures and questions on her mental status.

Members of APP’s NI Peer Support group, who have been campaigning hard for an MBU, tell us about the distress of being separated from their babies, and how this has stayed with them, in some cases for many, many years. Reading Jordan’s letter to him, Henry says: “The whole of my office is watching your every move and they know all about your behaviour in the bushes! Everyone loves your humour and thinks you’re a gentleman. I adore Henry – lifelong friends and potential son-in-law.” 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.The Zepp was bombed from an aeroplane above, with an incendiary bomb by a Lieutenany Robertson (Johnson?). We have some relics some wire and wood framework. Headteacher’s letter – 31st October (including the daily schedule for all year groups for the coming half-term. 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.”

My Dearest Will, I feel I must write you again dear altho there is not much news to tell you. I wonder how you are getting on. I shall be so relieved to get a letter from you. I can't help feeling a bit anxious dear. I know how you must have felt darling when you did not get my letters for so long. Of course I know dear you will write as soon as ever you can, but the time seems so dull and weary without any news of you, if only this war was over dear and we were together again. It will be one day I suppose. 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.” Mothers/daughter relationships--unless you're part of the duo, you'll never, ever get it. My boyfriend does, my brother doesn't--my father gets us both, but even he doesn't get us "together." As far as I can tell, how do you co-exist with someone you love, admire, hate, hope the best for/worst for? How do you take someone seriously you've known since they were in diapers? And likewise, how do you take someone seriously that you've spent your whole life working to "out do"? Mothers and daughters are set up to fail. On Thursday 28 thMay between 13:00 and 14:30 we are running 2 virtual workshops to promote positive emotional wellbeing for families to help manage anxiety through uncertainty. The first aimed specifically at under 7s and the other for over 7’s. Advice for parents will mainly be in the over 7’s webinar but there will be specific advice for supporting younger children in the under 7’s for parents who only have younger ones. Over the last few months we have all been learning to live with a ‘new normal’. Over the next few months there will be lots of change and with change comes understandable anxieties. The webinars are designed to look at strategies to help with this. Please sign up using the links below:

June 2023

We can only appeal to those from the dark side to give peace a chance and democracy. It will do them good and everybody good and bring an end to conflict and perpetual hell. Well done NI… keep it up. Anche se in questa raccolta di lettere è presente solo un terzo della corrispondenza integrale tra Aurelia Schober e sua figlia, Sylvia Plath, non si può non percepirne, tra le righe, l'evoluzione stilistica. Quell'evoluzione che l'ha resa una delle poetesse più affermate del novecento e l'ha portata al successo solo dopo la sua tragica morte, nel febbraio del 1963. Selling or Renting your property is not an everyday experience and it is essential that when you do you feel that your best interests are at the forefront of the team who you are dealing with. Here at Letters Group we strive to ensure that your experience with us is enjoyable and successful from start to finish. I would rather not describe the condition of the crew, of course they were dead - burnt to death. They were roasted, there is absolutely no other word for it. They were brown, like the outside of Roast Beef. One had his legs off at the knees, and you could see the joint!

How many more women should be separated from their babies? How many more women will die before mums in Northern Ireland get the support they need? It’s almost 18 months since the inquest into the tragic death of Orlaith Quinn, who took her own life in the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital in 2018, two days after she gave birth to her third child while experiencing post-partum psychosis. The coroner said Northern Ireland needs an MBU. But since then more families bereaved by suicide have come to Action on Post-partum Psychosis for support. After offering the opportunity of treats including a delicious sushi buffet and a luxury afternoon tea.

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Reading Henry’s letter to him, Jordan says: “You have been your positive, funny, authentic self throughout the whole time in the house and people love you for you.” 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.” 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. Booth, Larkin’s biographer, has edited these letters superbly well (there are 607 in this volume, a mere sliver of the terrifying total in existence), even if his footnotes are pedantic at times. Neatly tracing the poet’s adult life from Oxford University, through Wellington, Leicester and Belfast, where he worked in various libraries, and finally to Hull, a picture of the man slowly emerges. It’s not new, but perhaps the emphasis is slightly altered. Larkin as we find him here is witty, wise, grossly impractical, and extremely modest, in every sense of the word. For his 50th birthday, he asked his sister, Kitty, for a plastic container in which he might keep grapefruit juice

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. 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.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. Headteacher’s end of term letter to families (with letter from Haringey Public Health) 17th December 2020 Of course I told you we have had an entire change round and I have a new job now, part of the ship. I have not half the time I used to have but I enjoy the robust work much better and I get to see much more with working away. We get up at 6.30 and work until 1.00 so we put a few hours in don't we. That is when we are working away. Soldiers wrote letters in spare moments, sometimes from front line trenches or in the calmer surroundings behind the lines. Censorship dictated what servicemen were permitted to disclose in their letters. However, in practice, men often found ways to impart information, and their letters offer a powerful and highly personal insight into the experience of war.