19. Plath called Richard Sassoon the great love of her life and he would prove her equal in more ways than one
In 1954, Plath met “the one that got away”, Richard Sassoon. Unlike the other ‘boys’ she had dated up until then, he was a Yale student and could match the poet on an intellectual level. The two became correspondents and their letters became increasingly romantic and then lust-fuelled. In one, Sassoon said: “I am talking myself into thinking it would be rather fun to play daddy to a naughty girl if you are naughty”. In her diary, Plath recalls a trip to New York City to see Sassoon, revealing they barely left their 44th Street hotel room for 4 days.