Poet Married To Poet
Writers’ biographies actually sell—if they have turbulent lives. And, of course, lives ending in suicide are especially intriguing. A poet whose life many people know about is Sylvia Path. She was married to Ted Hughes, another poet, who is often blamed for her death. (Both are fine poets, but probably more people have read about their relationship than have read their poems.)
One might naively assume that because both so valued poetry, their relationship would be good. But it should be remembered that given the lack of general support for a life of writing poetry, the poet has to have an overblown ego to survive. It is hard to imagine two such egos living together in harmony.
Here is an insightful review of a book about their relationship that points our how they did indeed contribute to each other’s poetic development, despite their troubled relationship.
http://www.arlindo-correia.com/040404.html
And here is a review of a biography of Assia Wevil, Ted Hughes’ lover (also a poet) while married to Sylvia Plath and his mistress after his wife’s death. Assia Wevil also committed suicide!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/oct/19/biography.tedhughes
Moral of the story: Don’t marry a poet, especially if you’re a poet too!
