Despite the 54 years that have elapsed since her death, and the prevailing belief that all of Sylvia Plath’s work had been revealed, it appears that scholars Gail Crowther and Peter K. Steinberg have unearthed more of her literary treasures.

While working on a book about her work, the two discovered two previously unseen poems by Plath. The poems, believed to be from the final stage of her life, were found on a carbon paper hidden inside the back cover of one of Plath’s old notebooks.

With the help of Photoshop, the researchers were able to authenticate and decipher the content of the poems, both of which bear Plath’s unique signature. The first poem is titled “To a Refractory Santa Claus”, while the second is “Megrims”. Both were penned in the fall of 1956, around the time Plath began her relationship with fellow poet Ted Hughes.

The first poem, a two-part, 11-line piece, imagines the warm, sunny climate of Spain. The second, more cryptic poem, portrays a man’s moments of paranoia as he speaks to his doctor, recounting incidents involving “a spider in a coffee cup and an owl about to attack”. Steinberg, following this discovery, believes he is on the verge of uncovering another poem and has faith that modern technology will aid him in this pursuit.

After the recent emergence of letters that shed light on the tumultuous and toxic relationship between Plath and Hughes, Steinberg feels he is on the brink of piecing together a fascinating literary and psychological puzzle. As he told the Guardian, “I may well be the first person in 40 years to be able to examine such a document.” He remains hopeful that more of Plath’s work will be discovered, a process he admits “requires faith and hope”.

“I believe there are still fragments of her poems and works waiting to be uncovered,” he says. This belief might not be unfounded, as along with these two poems, several previously unseen photographs have surfaced from a forgotten archive at the Indiana University Library.

From Dazed

 

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