“Fulbright Scholars” by Ted Hughes

Fulbright Scholars – Ted Hughes
Commentary by Mel Mc Guinness

Subject Matter

This poem is the first in a chronological selection from Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes. It is a representation of his first sighting of the other person addressed in the poem. It explores the poet’s first sighting of Sylvia Plath in a photograph on a newspaper stand at the Strand.
While walking on a hot summer’s day, the speaker passes a news stand displaying the newspaper of the day. He notices the picture of the Fulbright Scholars who were the intake for that year. The assumption in this poem is that Sylvia Plath was one of the students represented in that photograph.
The poem explores Hughes’s memories and reminiscence about that day. In the poem the speaker draws on both memory and hindsight. This creates a tension within the poem, between what he remembers and what he has since learned. For this reason there are conflicting perspectives within this poem. However, one must remember that the poem is merely HIS perspective, his interpretation, his perception of the events of that day and consequently – as inferred within the poem-of their lives together. For this reason it is subjective.

The speaker evokes memories of his thoughts and feelings on this occasion. He remembers some of Plath’s physical attributes like “Your Veronica Lake bang” and “your grin”. He is not always complimentary in his observations, and at times employs sarcasm and disdain, by way of high modality “exaggerated”.

Later in the poem, he remembers buying a peach from a stall near Charing Cross Station. The peach takes on a metaphoric significance within the context of the poem.
It must be noted that the poem is set not long after World War II. The peach therefore also has significance in that luxuries like fruit had started to become available after the war.
The last four lines are very rich in meaning as they operate on more levels than merely the literal.
In a literal sense, not a great deal happens within this poem. However, there is a deeper level of meaning which requires some contextual knowledge of Birthday Letters.

Analysis

The poem opens with a rhetorical question which sets up the tension between the conflicting perspectives of his memories and his hindsight. It is dominated by a tone of questioning and uncertainty made evident through the repeated use of rhetorical questions and the oft used word ‘maybe’. Even the line “For some reason…” evokes a feeling of uncertainty. This is compounded by the repetitive use of the word ‘or’ which is used to mean ‘perhaps’, not to mean an alternative choice.

It reads like a monologue and makes frequent use of personal pronouns which again conveys a sense of subjectivity or personal perspective. There is the obvious contrast of “I” and “you” within the poem which evokes the ever-present debate about their different perspectives on their relationship and the perspectives of so many others, to date. This tension between the two is evident in the “Were you among them? I studied it…”.

The poem moves through a journey from innocence to experience, from being alone to being ‘dumbfounded’. It is noticeable that the speaker remembers some aspects of this experience very clearly, “Noted your long hair…” and yet there is uncertainty about other aspects of the event, “I remember that thought. Not Your face.” From this we can assume that Sylvia Plath definitely was in the photograph and that he did indeed notice her. The use of the word “Noted” has different connotations to the word ‘noticed’. In other words he made a point of remembering these characteristics, viz. her long wavy hair. Almost in the same breath he states that he noted the ‘bang’ and then goes on to state, “Not what it hid”. This implies that she has a secret. It was a case of the obvious concealing the less obvious. He knows this with the benefit of hindsight.
This is further compounded by the use of the word “appear” in the line “It would appear blond”. This raises the notion of appearance versus reality- or indeed the idea of perspective.

The reference to “Your Veronica Lake bang” is loaded with meaning. Veronica Lake was known for assuming the roles of a femme fatale. This leads us to question whether Hughes is implying that Plath was his indeed his personal femme fatale. He furthermore suggests that this “bang” was hiding aspects of her character- that this representation of her was duplicitous.

In the following lines he alludes to her problems, implying that her grin was fake and held a purpose of its own. It was there for the “cameras, the judges, the strangers, the frighteners”. Is the “frighteners” an allusion to the “demons’ that haunted Plath?
The line “Then I forgot. Yet I remember/The picture…: makes judicious use of juxtaposition of the two ideas of forget and remember. It is not clear what exactly he forgot. However, the enjambment of the following lines makes it clear that he remembers the picture but not necessarily all the details of the occasion.
Hughes employs a pun, through the use of the “luggage”. This implies that the Fulbright scholars, esp. Plath, were carrying more thatn just the usual luggage. That as in the case of Plath, there was emotional luggage as well. “It seems unlikely,”hints at the incredulity if the idea that these awarded scholars would have emotional luggage. ON a literal level, it implies that it is unlikely that the photograph would have included their luggage alongside them.
In the final section of the poem Hughes uses alliteration in “”sore-footed, under hot sun, hot pavements”. This evokes the‘s’ sound which is reminiscent of a burning sensation. This evokes a sense of discomfort in the poem. This is followed by a question then a statement, “That’s as I remember”. The combination of the two alongside each other leaves the reader with a feeling of uncertainty and doubt about how sure he really is. We question how much is perspective and how much is conjecture.
The image of the peach hints at the idea in Genesis aka as Adam’s apple, or the fall of man. These lines lead us to believe that Hughes’s interest in Plath was sparked by this picture and in hindsight he now recognises this as the moment which led to his subsequent strife.
Structurally the piece consists only of one stanza. It is a monologue which mimics Plath’s confessional style of poetry.