This is an index to The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, 1950–1962, including the appendices and notes. It does not include references to the introductory material. Significant people, places, and subjects are indexed. Whenever possible, correct spellings appear in the index. Proper names have been verified against library authority records. Maiden names are generally preferred for female classmates of Sylvia Plath. Nicknames and other identifiers are occasionally included in parentheses. Important artistic, cultural, literary, and musical influences are indexed. Literary works are listed by their published titles under individual authors, and include references to specific quotations mentioned by Plath. (Cross-references for quotations are supplied as needed.) Motion pictures appear by title. Famous people and subjects relevant to the study of American and British popular culture of the 1950s and early 1960s are included, as well as a few select images important to Sylvia Plath’s work. Plath’s poetry and prose are indexed by titles or first lines under Sylvia Plath (works) and include notes and plot summaries, drafts, and references to specific published and unpublished works. References to the process of writing fiction are grouped under Creative writing. A variety of subheadings are arranged under Sylvia Plath that refer to her physical appearance, personality, and health. The following abbreviations are used: SP (Sylvia Plath); TH (Ted Hughes); FL (first line).
Aaron, Daniel, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7n
Abels, Cyrilly, 1, 2, 3n; see also Mademoiselle
Academy of American Poets, The, see Lamont Poetry Selection
Accent (Urbana, Illinois), 1, 2
Afro-Americans, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Aiken, Conrad, 1; ‘Morning Song of Senlin’, 2
Aldrich family, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7n
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; see also Strauss, Harold
Alicante, Spain, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n
‘All the wells of the valley’, see Teasdale, Sara (‘Mountain Water’)
America, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Americans, 1, 2; apathy of; British stereotypes of, 1, 2; men, 1, 2; women; see also individual ethnic groups
Ames, Lois, see Sisson, Lois Winslow
Amherst, Massachusetts, 1, 2, 3n
Amherst College, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Andersen, Hans Christian, 1, 2
Angélique and the Sultan, see Golon, Anne
Anouilh, Jean; Antigone; Ornifle; Ring Around the Moon
Apartheid (South Africa), 1, 2
Arnold, Matthew, 1; ‘Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse’ (quotations from), 1
Art, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; see also individual artists; Plath, Sylvia (drawings and paintings of)
Arvin, Newton, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n; English course (American fiction), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28n; parties of; SP’s descriptions of, 1, 2, 3, 4
Atkinson, Anne Barrett, see Barrett, Anne Judith
Atlantic, The, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22; see also Weeks, Edward; Davison, Peter
Atlantic Monthly Press, The, 1, 2, 3, 4; see also McLeod, Emilie
Atlantic Ocean, SP’s crossing of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Atomic bomb, 1, 2, 3; see also Nuclear weapons testing
Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8n; ‘As I Walked Out One Evening’ (quotations from); SP’s descriptions of
Baltzell, Jane Lucille (‘the blonde one’), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12n
Banning, Margaret Culkin, Case for Chastity, The
Barnhouse, Ruth Tiffany, see Beuscher, Ruth Barnhouse
Barrett, Anne Judith, 1, 2, 3n
Baskin, Esther, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7n; Creatures of Darkness, 1, 2
Baskin, Leonard, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12n
Baudelaire, Charles, Fleurs du Mal, Les
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Bell, Book, and Candle, see Van Druten, John
Belle et la Běte, La (Motion picture) by Jean Cocteau
Belmont, The (West Harwich, Massachusetts), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8n
Benidorm, Spain, 1, 2, 3n; SP’s descriptions of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; in SP’s fiction, 1, 2, 3; mentioned, 1, 2, 3
Benotti, Dorothy Schober (SP’s aunt ‘Dot’), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n
Benotti, Francesca M. Racioppi, 1, 2n
Benotti, Joseph (SP’s uncle ‘Joe’), 1, 2n
Berkman, Sylvia, Blackberry Wilderness
Beuscher, Ruth Barnhouse, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9n; in SP’s dreams, 1, 2; in SP’s fiction
SP’s therapy sessions with, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
Beyond the Fringe (Comedy revue)
Bible; Genesis; Job; Psalms (quotations from)
Billyeald, Bertha (‘blue-coated woman’), 1, 2, 3, 4
Binkerd, Gordon, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n
Blodgett family, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7n
Böcklin, Arnold, Island of the Dead (Painting)
Boddy, Michael George, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n
Booth, Margaret Tillman, 1, 2n
Booth, Marion Frances, 1, 2, 3n
Booth, Philip E., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7n
Boston, Massachusetts, 1, 2, 3, 4; SP’s and TH’s apartment (9 Willow), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15; SP’s descriptions of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14; in SP’s fiction; mentioned, 1, 2, 3; see also Copley Plaza; Kenmore Square Theater; Plath, Sylvia (walking of); Scollay Square
Boston University, 1, 2, 3n; English, (poetry writing), see Lowell, Robert
Botany, SP’s interest in, 1, 2, 3, 4
Bradley, F. H. (Francis Herbert), Ethical Studies
Bramwell, James Guy, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n; Unfinished Man, The, 1
Bramwell, Joan Maxwell, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12n
Brawner, Philip Livingston Poe, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9n
British, SP’s descriptions of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; see also individuals
British Broadcasting Corporation, 1, 2n; see also Kane, Marvin
Brontë, Emily, Wuthering Heights
Brown, Marcia (‘Marty’), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15n; marriage of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6n; in Plath’s fiction, 1, 2; Smith College (junior year), 1, 2, 3, 4n; summer of (1951), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8n; summer of (1953), 1, 2, 3n
Buck, David Keith Rodney, 1, 2, 3n
Buñuel, Luis, see Chien Andalou, Un (Motion picture)
Burton, Kathleen Marguerite Passmore, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n
Byrom, James, see Bramwell, James Guy
‘Call for the robin redbreast’, see Webster, John (White Devil, The)
Cambridge, England, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18; SP’s and TH’s apartment (55 Eltisley), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6n; in SP’s writing, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; see also individual works; Plath, Sylvia (cycling of; walking of)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1, 2, 3
Cambridge University, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
buildings: Clare College; Emmanuel College; Falcon Yard, 1, 2n; Grove Lodge, 1, 2n; King’s College Chapel, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Newnham College, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; Pembroke College; Queens’ College, 1, 2, 3, 4; St John’s College, 1, 2; Whitstead, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Cambridge Amateur Dramatics Club, 1n, 2
courses, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
dons of; see also individuals
SP’s interpersonal relations at, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; see also individuals
Cantor family, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10n
Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10n; see also Chatham; Eastham; Nauset Beach
Capote, Truman, 1, 2; Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Carroll, Lewis (characters from), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Cary, Joyce; Herself Surprised; Horse’s Mouth, The, 1, 2
Case for Chastity, The, see Banning, Margaret Culkin
Cassell’s New French-English, English-French Dictionary
Catholic Church; see also individual saints
Catholics, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Celia Amberley, see Lincoln, Victoria
Chapelle du Rosaire (Vence, France), 1, 2, 3n
Chase, Mary Ellen, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6n
Chatham, Massachusetts, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Chesterfield Gorge Reservation (Chesterfield, Massachusetts)
Chien Andalou, Un (Motion picture), 1, 2n
Childbirth, 1, 2, 3; see also Pregnancies and childbirths of Plath
Childs Memorial Park (Northampton, Massachusetts), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Christian Science, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Christian Science Monitor, The, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; see also Henniker-Heaton, Peter
Clark, Mary Matthieu, 1, 2, 3n
Coast Guard Beach (Eastham, Massachusetts), 1, 2
Cochran, Robert Shepard, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n
Cohen, Edward M., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9n
Coleridge Secondary Modern Boys’ School (Cambridge, England), 1, 2
Copley Plaza (Boston, Massachusetts)
Corkery, Brian Neal Howard Desmond, 1, 2n
Cornucopia, Wisconsin, 1, 2, 3
Crawford, Bessie, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Crawford, Lewis J. (‘Jack’), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Crawford, Maurice (‘Morris’), 1, 2, 3
Creative writing of Hughes, 1, 2, 3, 4
habits and methods, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
SP’s appreciation of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
SP’s literary services, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
see also Hughes, Ted (works)
Creative writing of Plath, 1, 2, 3
anonyms and pseudonyms, 1, 2, 3
goals and accomplishments, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32
habits and methods, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
journals, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28
and marriage, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
names, lists of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
novels, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17; see also Plath, Sylvia, works (‘Falcon Yard’)
poems, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
problems, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
short stories, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
style (true voice), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
TH’s influence, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
writer as god, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
see also Plath, Sylvia (dreams about creative writing; works); Smith College (memorandum paper)
Crockett, Wilbury A., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6n
Cruickshank, William H., Jr, 1, 2n
Cummings, E. E. (Edward Estlin), 1, 2, 3, 4; ‘All in green went my love riding’; Enormous Room, The
Curtis, William, Flora Londinensis, 1
Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Massachusetts)
Dalí, Salvador, see Chien Andalou, Un (Motion picture)
Danziger, Marlies K., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7n
Darwin, Charles; On the Origin of the Species
Davies, Winifred M. H., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Davison, Jane Truslow, see Truslow, Jane Auchincloss
Davison, Peter, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7n, 8
Davy, Brian William, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n
Death, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21; see also Plath, Sylvia (religious beliefs of)
Defoe, Daniel, Journal of the Plague Year
Denny, Christine Kingsley, 1, 2n
Detroit Tigers (Baseball team)
De Vries, Peter; ‘Afternoon of a Faun’
Diabetes, 1, 2, 3; see also Plath, Otto (diabetes of)
Dickens, Charles, 1, 2; Pickwick Papers
Displaced persons, see Refugees, Political
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 1, 2; Crime and Punishment, 3, 4
Drew, Elizabeth A., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11n
Dunbar, William, 1; ‘Lament of the Makaris’, 2, 3
Dunn, Esther Cloudman, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n
Eastham, Massachusetts, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n; see also Coast Guard Beach; Nauset Light Beach; Rock Harbor Creek
Eddy, Mary Baker, Science and Health, 1, 2
Ehrmann, Max (quotations from)
Eiffel Tower, see Tour Eiffel
Eliot, T. S. (Thomas Stearns), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16; ‘Lines for an Old Man’ (quotations from); ‘Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The’; Waste Land, The, 19, 20, 21
Engel, Monroe, 1, 2, 3n; Visions of Nicholas Solon, The
England, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17; winters in, 1, 2, 3; see also Cambridge; Dartmoor; Exeter; Grantchester; Haworth; London; Okehampton; Oxford; Yorkshire
English Channel, SP’s crossing of, 1, 2
Enormous Room, The, see Cummings, E. E.
Escorial, see San Lorenzo del Escorial (Spain)
Eugene F. Saxton Memorial Fellowship, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
Euripides, Bacchae, The, 1n
Europe, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; see also individual countries
Exeter, England, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Faber and Faber; see also Monteith, Charles Montgomery
Fairy tales, 1, 2, 3; see also Aino Folk-tales; Andersen, Hans Christian; Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm
Farrar, Alice Thomas (TH’s aunt), 1, 2n
Farrar, Hilda A. (TH’s aunt), 1, 2, 3n
Farrar, Victoria (TH’s cousin), 1, 2, 3n
Farrar, Walter (TH’s uncle), 1, 2, 3n
Fassett, Agatha, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11n
Fassett, Stephen B., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8n
Faulkner, William; Bear, The; Sanctuary
Feibleman, Peter S.; Place Without Twilight, A
Fisher, Alfred Young, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15n
Fitts, Dudley, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6n
Flora Londinesis, see Curtis, William
Food: American meals, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19; English meals, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; English teas and parties, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; French meals, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; see also Cambridge University (meals at); Hughes, Ted (cooking of); Plath, Sylvia (cooking of); Smith College, student life (meals); Yaddo (meals at)
Forester, C. S. (Cecil Scott), Captain Horatio Hornblower
Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan); Passage to India, A
France, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; see also Nice; Paris; Vence
Frankau, Pamela, Wreath for the Enemy, A
French language: learning, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23n; speaking, 1, 2, 3, 4; in SP’s dreams, 1, 2
French people, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Freud, Sigmund, 1, 2, 3; Mourning and Melancholia
Friedman, Elinor Linda (‘Elly’), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9n
Fulbright Scholar Awards, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
‘Fullness thereof, The’, see Bible (Psalms)
Gallant, Mavis, 1, 2, 3n; Green Water, Green Sky
Gallup, William Albert, Jr, 1, 2, 3n
Gardner, Helen Louise, Dame, 1, 2n
Gardner, Isabella, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n
Gay men, 1, 2; see also individuals
Generation of Vipers, see Wylie, Philip
German Americans and detention camps, 1, 2
German language: learning, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35n; speaking
Germany, 1, 2, 3; see also Munich
Gibian, George, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8n
Gibian, J. Catherine Annis (‘Cay’), 1, 2, 3n
Gilead, Dorothea Krook-, see Krook, Dorothea
Gill, Elizabeth Bjornson, 1, 2n
Gilling, Christopher Richard (‘Dick’), 1, 2n
Glascock Poetry Prize, see Kathryn Irene Glascock Poetry Prize
Goldberg, Maxwell Henry, 1, 2, 3, 4n
Golon, Anne, Angélique and the Sultan
Goodbye, My Fancy, see Kanin, Fay
Grantchester, England, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n
Graves, Robert, White Goddess, The, 1, 2, 3n
Gray, Anthony James (‘Tony’), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7n
Griffith-Jones, John Mervyn Guthrie
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, 1, 2
Guggenheim Foundation, see John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Gulbrandsen, Melvin H. (SP’s dentist), 1, 2
Harcourt Brace & Company, 1, 2, 3
Hardwick, Elizabeth, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n
Hardy, Thomas; ‘Ancient to Ancients, An’; ‘Last Words to a Dumb Friend’
Harper’s Magazine: Hughes’s work in, 1, 2; Plath’s work in, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Harvard University; graduate programs; medical school, 1, 2n; Morris Gray Lecture, 1, 2, 3; Plath’s recordings for; Sanskrit and Indian Studies department, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n; summer school, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n, 6n; Woodberry Poetry Room, 1n, 2n; Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, SP’s interview for, 1, 2
Haupt, Garry E., 1n; SP’s dating of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; in SP’s dreams; in SP’s fiction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; mentioned, 1, 2
Haworth, England, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6n
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Marble Faun, The, 1, 2; Rappaccini’s Daughter; Scarlet Letter, The
Healy, Louis Hollister, Jr, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n
Hecht, Anthony (‘Tony’), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8n
Hecht, Patricia Harris, 1, 2, 3, 4n
Heinrichs, Frieda Plath and Walter J. (SP’s aunt and uncle)
Hemingway, Ernest, 1, 2; Sun Also Rises, The
Henley, William Ernest, ‘Invictus’ (quotations from)
Henniker-Heaton, Peter, 1, 2, 3n
Henry Holt and Company, 1, 2, 3, 4
Hill, Charles Jarvis, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9n
‘Hold to the now’, see Joyce, James (Ulysses)
Holyoke Range (Hadley, Massachusetts), 1, 2, 3, 4; Prospect House (Summit House)
Hopkins, Gerard Manley, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; ‘God’s Grandeur’ (quotations from); ‘Leaden Echo, The’ (quotations from); ‘Windhover, The’
Hopkinson, Alfred Stephan, Rev., 1, 2n
Hornbeak, Katherine Gee, 1, 2, 3, 4n
Horoscopes, see Astrology
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1, 2, 3
Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowships
Howard, Frances Minturn, 1, 2n
Hughes, Edith Farrar (SP’s mother-in-law), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5n, 6n
Hughes, Edward James, see Hughes, Ted
Hughes, Frieda Rebecca (SP’s daughter), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20n; birth of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6n
Hughes, Nicholas Farrar (SP’s son), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15; birth of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7n
Hughes, Olwyn Marguerite (SP’s sister-in-law), 1, 2, 3, 4n
Hughes, Sylvia Plath, see Plath, Sylvia