Alexandra Tatiana Elise, nicknamed "Shura", was the daughter of Assia Gutmann (Wevill) and Ted Hughes.
On March 3, 1965 at age 37, Assia gave birth to Shura while still married to the poet David Wevill.
On March 23, 1969, consumed by despair and disillusion, Assia Gutmann swallowed a handful of sleeping pills, gathered up the 4 year-old Shura, and turned on the gas stove in the kitchen of her flat in Clapham Common (3, Okeover Manor), London.
LULLABY
Before you'd given death a name
Like Bear or Crocodile, death came
To take your mother out one night.
But when she'd said her last good night
You cried, "I don't want you to go",
So in her arms she took you too.
Poem by Richard Murphy (b. 1927), from The Hip Flask: Short Poems From Ireland
******************************
Updated on 06/05/2013 (thanks to Wolfie) -
Ashes of Assia & Shura Wevill - Ted Hughes had the ashes in his possession and sent a postcard to Brenda Hedden whilst he was in Ashford, Kent and stated that he had '....completed the mission.'
(1) Ted Hughes had earlier stated to Brenda Hedden: '...that he had one final duty: to scatter Assia and Shura's ashes over a churchyard in Kent.'
(2) It is most probable that the ashes of Assia & Shura Wevill were spread somewhere in St Mary the Virgin Church, Ashford, Kent.
*(1)(2) pp219-220 'Lover of Unreason Assia Wevill, Sylvia Plath's Rival and Ted Hughes's Doomed Love' Yehuda Koren & Eilat Negev 2006.
On March 3, 1965 at age 37, Assia gave birth to Shura while still married to the poet David Wevill.
On March 23, 1969, consumed by despair and disillusion, Assia Gutmann swallowed a handful of sleeping pills, gathered up the 4 year-old Shura, and turned on the gas stove in the kitchen of her flat in Clapham Common (3, Okeover Manor), London.
LULLABY
Before you'd given death a name
Like Bear or Crocodile, death came
To take your mother out one night.
But when she'd said her last good night
You cried, "I don't want you to go",
So in her arms she took you too.
Poem by Richard Murphy (b. 1927), from The Hip Flask: Short Poems From Ireland
******************************
Updated on 06/05/2013 (thanks to Wolfie) -
Ashes of Assia & Shura Wevill - Ted Hughes had the ashes in his possession and sent a postcard to Brenda Hedden whilst he was in Ashford, Kent and stated that he had '....completed the mission.'
(1) Ted Hughes had earlier stated to Brenda Hedden: '...that he had one final duty: to scatter Assia and Shura's ashes over a churchyard in Kent.'
(2) It is most probable that the ashes of Assia & Shura Wevill were spread somewhere in St Mary the Virgin Church, Ashford, Kent.
*(1)(2) pp219-220 'Lover of Unreason Assia Wevill, Sylvia Plath's Rival and Ted Hughes's Doomed Love' Yehuda Koren & Eilat Negev 2006.
Alexandra Tatiana Elise, nicknamed "Shura", was the daughter of Assia Gutmann (Wevill) and Ted Hughes.
On March 3, 1965 at age 37, Assia gave birth to Shura while still married to the poet David Wevill.
On March 23, 1969, consumed by despair and disillusion, Assia Gutmann swallowed a handful of sleeping pills, gathered up the 4 year-old Shura, and turned on the gas stove in the kitchen of her flat in Clapham Common (3, Okeover Manor), London.
LULLABY
Before you'd given death a name
Like Bear or Crocodile, death came
To take your mother out one night.
But when she'd said her last good night
You cried, "I don't want you to go",
So in her arms she took you too.
Poem by Richard Murphy (b. 1927), from The Hip Flask: Short Poems From Ireland
******************************
Updated on 06/05/2013 (thanks to Wolfie) -
Ashes of Assia & Shura Wevill - Ted Hughes had the ashes in his possession and sent a postcard to Brenda Hedden whilst he was in Ashford, Kent and stated that he had '....completed the mission.'
(1) Ted Hughes had earlier stated to Brenda Hedden: '...that he had one final duty: to scatter Assia and Shura's ashes over a churchyard in Kent.'
(2) It is most probable that the ashes of Assia & Shura Wevill were spread somewhere in St Mary the Virgin Church, Ashford, Kent.
*(1)(2) pp219-220 'Lover of Unreason Assia Wevill, Sylvia Plath's Rival and Ted Hughes's Doomed Love' Yehuda Koren & Eilat Negev 2006.
On March 3, 1965 at age 37, Assia gave birth to Shura while still married to the poet David Wevill.
On March 23, 1969, consumed by despair and disillusion, Assia Gutmann swallowed a handful of sleeping pills, gathered up the 4 year-old Shura, and turned on the gas stove in the kitchen of her flat in Clapham Common (3, Okeover Manor), London.
LULLABY
Before you'd given death a name
Like Bear or Crocodile, death came
To take your mother out one night.
But when she'd said her last good night
You cried, "I don't want you to go",
So in her arms she took you too.
Poem by Richard Murphy (b. 1927), from The Hip Flask: Short Poems From Ireland
******************************
Updated on 06/05/2013 (thanks to Wolfie) -
Ashes of Assia & Shura Wevill - Ted Hughes had the ashes in his possession and sent a postcard to Brenda Hedden whilst he was in Ashford, Kent and stated that he had '....completed the mission.'
(1) Ted Hughes had earlier stated to Brenda Hedden: '...that he had one final duty: to scatter Assia and Shura's ashes over a churchyard in Kent.'
(2) It is most probable that the ashes of Assia & Shura Wevill were spread somewhere in St Mary the Virgin Church, Ashford, Kent.
*(1)(2) pp219-220 'Lover of Unreason Assia Wevill, Sylvia Plath's Rival and Ted Hughes's Doomed Love' Yehuda Koren & Eilat Negev 2006.
Family Members
Half Siblings
