*Sylvia Plath, ‘Tulips’, Poetry at the Mermaid (London, 1961): 53–4. SP read ‘Tulips’ to an audience on 17 July 1961. The reading was recorded by the British Library. Introducing the poem, Plath said: ‘The poem I’m going to read tonight is called “Tulips” and it was occasioned quite simply by receiving a bouquet of red, spectacular tulips while convalescing in hospital.’