Fulbright Scholars
Where was it, in the Strand? A display Of news items, in photographs. For some reason I noticed it. A picture of that year's intake Of Fulbright Scholars. Just arriving - Or arrived. Or some of them. Were you among them? I studied it, Not too minutely, wondering Which of them I might meet. I remember that thought. Not Your face. No doubt I scanned particularly The girls. Maybe I noticed you. Maybe I weighed you up, feeling unlikely. Noted your long hair, loose waves - Your Veronica Lake bang. Not what it hid. It would appear blond. And your grin. Your exaggerated American Grin for the cameras, the judges, the strangers, the frighteners. Then I forgot. Yet I remember The picture: the Fulbright Scholars. With their luggage? It seems unlikely. Could they have come as a team? I was walking Sore-footed, under hot sun, hot pavements. Was it then I bought a peach? That's as I remember. From a stall near Charing Cross Station. It was the first fresh peach I had ever tasted. I could hardly believe how delicious. At twenty-five I was dumbfounded afresh By my ignorance of the simplest things.
Fulbright Scholars - meaning Summary
Chance Encounter, Remembered Later
The poem recalls Hughes seeing a photograph of incoming Fulbright Scholars in London and only later imagining that Sylvia Plath may have been among them. His uncertain memory contrasts with vivid details of his own walk and first taste of a fresh peach. The ending turns this chance, unrecognized proximity into a reflection on youthful inexperience and the limits of memory.
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