Frieda Hughes, daughter of poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, has spoken about her journey to establish her own poetic voice, revealing she initially hid her writing for fear of being influenced by her parents. In a rare interview, she reflected on the poem "Birds", which she wrote about her father's collection "Birthday Letters", only for him to see it as a poem about her.
Hughes, now 56, said she did not read her parents' poetry until her mid-30s, fearing it would "contaminate" her own work. She requested special dispensation at school to avoid studying their poems. "If I didn't read their poetry, they would always be Mum and Dad, not these great literary luminaries," she explained.
She described how, at 34, she presented a stack of her poetry to her father and asked him to sort it into good, bad and indifferent. He gave impartial feedback, which she valued. Despite his praise, she continued to refine the poems he liked.
Her decision to pursue poetry and painting came after a diagnosis of chronic fatigue. "We only have one life," she said. "It's pretty sad if we don't do something that makes us happy, just because we might get our heads kicked in."
Hughes recalled her father as disciplined but also present – cooking scrambled eggs, taking her to the beach, and allowing her freedom. She noted he never spoke ill of her mother, presenting her as angelic. She admires her mother's work, especially "Ariel".
