Birthday Letters

‘Red’, as the final poem in Birthday Letters, acts as Hughes’ final statement on his relationship with Plath. It responds directly to Plath’s poems ‘Lady Lazarus’ and ‘Nick and the Candlestick’ due to its thematic concerns of motherhood, mental illness, and the nature of Hughes and Plath’s marriage. Hughes employs colour symbolism throughout the poem to represent Plath’s descent into psychosis and its toll on their relationship.

The poem opens with Hughes branding red as the central colour of Plath’s identity, associated with blood, passion, love, and danger. Red becomes a defining trait, almost like a protective garment she “wrapped around” herself. Hughes contrasts this with white, connoting innocence and purity, but emphasises that red was the dominant force, hinting at its inescapability in her life. This is deepened by his invocation of “red-ochre,” a pigment used in ancient rituals and burials, and a reference to “haematite,” iron-rich dark red stones. Hughes links Plath’s affinity for red with ancient customs related to death and the afterlife, suggesting that she had an unconscious connection to themes of mortality and preservation, perhaps a reflection of her own preoccupations with death and her legacy.

Hughes transitions to describe the physical space that Plath created, a room draped in red. He compares it to a “judgement chamber” and a “shut casket for gems,” evoking a sense of confinement and finality. The room, saturated in red, feels oppressive and almost funereal. The diction of “judgement chamber” implies a space where harsh truths or reckonings occur, while “shut casket” evokes death, further connecting red to themes of mortality and inevitability.
The carpet is described as being like “congealed” blood, intensifying the visceral imagery. The curtains are likened to “blood-falls,” emphasising the overwhelming, almost suffocating presence of red in the room. This blood-like imagery suggests not only the omnipresence of death but also a kind of emotional hemorrhaging, where passion and pain are inescapable. Even the softer elements of the room, like the cushions, are saturated in red, described as “raw carmine.” This choice of words implies an almost violent quality to the colour. The room becomes a “throbbing cell” and an “Aztec altar – temple,” drawing on imagery of sacrifice and blood rituals. This deepens the association between red and death, as if the room itself were a site of emotional and spiritual sacrifice.

In contrast to the overwhelming red, the bookshelves remain white, standing out as a pure symbol of intellectual clarity, contrasting with the emotional chaos of red. Hughes moves outside the room, but even here, the imagery remains connected to blood, such as poppies which are compared to the “skin on blood.” The roses outside are described as the “heart’s last gouts,” evoking the image of blood spurting from a dying body. The adjectives “catastrophic,” “arterial,” and “doomed” further underscores the fatalistic, life- draining qualities of red.
 
This line suggests that even in beauty, represented by the roses, there is a sense of inevitable destruction and death. The mention of salvias – flowers that are redolent of Sylvia Plath’s first name – adds a personal touch, tying the flowers to her identity. The imagery of “blood lobbing from the gash” is violent and unsettling, reinforcing the idea of red as a symbol of bleeding, wounding, and unresolved pain.

Hughes shifts to a description of Plath herself, focusing on her “velvet long full skirt” which becomes a “swathe of blood.” The use of “lavish burgundy” suggests an indulgent, rich red, but there is also something sinister in its association with blood. Plath’s lips, described as “dipped, deep crimson,” furthers these associations. Hughes acknowledges that Plath “revelled in red,” finding comfort or expression in its intensity. However, for him, red feels “raw” and uncomfortable, like the “crisp gauze edges of a stiffening wound.” This simile engenders an unresolved pain or trauma that hardens over time but remains sensitive. Hughes expresses his own discomfort with this emotional intensity, suggesting that it is something he cannot fully embrace.
Hughes’ imagery becomes even more visceral as he describes being able to “touch the open vein” in the colour red. This suggests a direct connection to Plath’s raw, emotional core of pain and vulnerability. The “crusted gleam” of the vein suggests that while the wound may have healed on the surface, the emotional intensity still lingers beneath.
The poem then shifts to associating Plath with the colour blue, symbolising gentle tranquillity which Hughes believes would have suited her spirit better than the intensity of red. He recalls “Kingfisher blue silks” that she wore while pregnant, reminiscing about a more nurturing, protective force. He also explicitly rejects the idea of Plath as a “ghoul” (a ghostly figure associated with death) and instead describes her as “electrified,” suggesting her true essence was luminous and protective.

The final stanza is a culmination of the poem’s symbolic exploration of red, white, and blue to encapsulate Plath’s emotional struggle. The “pit of red” conveys a sense of entrapment in intense emotions. Plath hides within this intensity, avoiding the sterility and lifelessness symbolised by “bone-clinic whiteness,” preferring to immerse herself in the vibrant, viscerally emotional world of red. However, Hughes intimates that Plath sacrifices something essential, like a precious “jewel,” by being consumed by red. The qualities associated with blue, such as serenity and transcendence, are ones that Hughes implies Plath could not fully embrace or sustain. The final line is both mournful and reflective, acknowledging a sense of loss for the gentler, more harmonious aspect of her spirit.

Hughes’ final poem ‘Red’ offers a poignant reflection on a relationship that, from Hughes’ perspective, was subject to a fatal kismet from the beginning due to Plath’s psychosis and self-destructive tendencies.