Poetry in Motion
Published on 30th January, 2008
rich red earth, olive groves, blue seas
We don't normally think of Benidorm in connection with the literary arts but a little over 50 years ago it was the honeymoon destination of English poet and children's writer Ted Hughes.
Yorkshire born Hughes, who became British Poet Laureate in 1984, spent part of his post nuptial vacation with his new bride, the Cambridge educated American writer Sylvia Plath in a house on Tomas
Ortuño Street.
Back in 1956 things were very different in Benidorm, what is now one of the town's busiest streets was a quiet backwater on the outskirts of town with marvellous views of the mountains and plenty of
peace and quiet for scribing poetry.
In her writings Plath says that the couple instantly felt that the area with its rich red earth, olive groves, blue seas and clean beaches, was their own place. She was also moved to break out of
prose and wrote one of her famous poems 'Fiesta Melons' about Benidorm.
Hughes himself never mentioned the town in his works but as Poet Laureate would have had to have come up with a few lines of verse about Benidorm Palace should the Queen have ever paid it an official visit!
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