Myth and Public Mourning: Ted Hughes's Birthday Letters Symbiosis 14.1

Description

Myth and Public Mourning: Ted Hughes’s Birthday Letters by Ian Twiddy is an in-depth scholarly essay analyzing the interplay of myth, mourning, and public perception in Ted Hughes's Birthday Letters. This essay, originally published in Symbiosis: A Journal of Anglo-American Literary Relations, explores how Hughes uses mythology and personal narrative to process his grief over Sylvia Plath’s death and to respond to public scrutiny. Twiddy examines Hughes's engagement with Freudian concepts of mourning, mythological frameworks, and the complexities of public versus private mourning. This essay is essential for literature students, scholars, and anyone interested in Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, and the use of myth in contemporary poetry.