Sep 2013
Come quarter to ten,
sleepyhead, time for bed
with brother close by,
what awaits you up there
at the top of the stairs?
As night unfurls
each step groans
like an old gentleman,
you ask what will greet us
when we’ve scaled this mountain?
A monster, a ghoul
or nothing at all?
Something he says
different from the rest,
a sight quite like no other.
Before the clock strikes bedtime
a marvel for you two
that won't be forgotten,
the oddest thing you've ever seen;
the feast, the beast and one jelly-bean.
sleepyhead, time for bed
with brother close by,
what awaits you up there
at the top of the stairs?
As night unfurls
each step groans
like an old gentleman,
you ask what will greet us
when we’ve scaled this mountain?
A monster, a ghoul
or nothing at all?
Something he says
different from the rest,
a sight quite like no other.
Before the clock strikes bedtime
a marvel for you two
that won't be forgotten,
the oddest thing you've ever seen;
the feast, the beast and one jelly-bean.
Written: September 2013.
Explanation: Another potential third-year dissertation poem for university, focusing on Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. This Sylvia piece relates to a childhood event - along with her brother Warren, come night-time when the two of them were young, they would imagine what would greet them at the top of the stairs. One evening when Plath asked what they would find, Warren stated 'a feast, and a beast ,and a jelly-bean!' They both laughed at this, and the saying stayed among her family for years. The saying is also mentioned in Sylvia's journals.
Explanation: Another potential third-year dissertation poem for university, focusing on Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. This Sylvia piece relates to a childhood event - along with her brother Warren, come night-time when the two of them were young, they would imagine what would greet them at the top of the stairs. One evening when Plath asked what they would find, Warren stated 'a feast, and a beast ,and a jelly-bean!' They both laughed at this, and the saying stayed among her family for years. The saying is also mentioned in Sylvia's journals.
