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A celebration of the work of Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate, who died in October 1998. Contributors to this work include: Raymond Briggs, Wendy Cope, John Fowles, Sir John Gielgud, Seamus Heaney, Susan Hill, James Lasdun, Blake Morrison, Andrew Motion, Jon Stallworthy, Claire Tomalin and Marina Warner. ... Read more

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The first collection of essays to be published since Ted Hughes' death, this volume gathers contributions from most major international Hughes scholars. The collection reflects some well-trodden paths of Hughes criticism, however, it also revisits critical discourse on his work, acknowledging that it is no longer possible to study Hughes without reference to Sylvia Plath. The collection also challenges a critical reception that has prided itself on being the mouthpiece of the poet's own ideological discourse. ... Read more

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George Orwell as an imperialist patriot, Virginia Woolf making fun of feminism and T.S.Eliot as the author of an adventure story set in the South Seas are among the prize items to be found in this collection of 20th-century juvenilia. The age limit has been set at 16. The author has been collecting material for this book for the past 30 years, encouraging friends like Francis King, David Gascoyne and Elizabeth Jennings to search through their old papers. Other items he tracked down in school magazines - such as John Betjeman's attempt to find words to rhyme with "summer", which first appeared in the Dragon School magazine in 1918, when he was only 13. The collection should appeal to those interested in 20th-century literature, poetry and writers, as well as collectors of anthologies and miscellanies. ... Read more

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This new study of the work of Ted Hughes traces the stages of his development as a poet, from his powerful early collection, The Hawk in the Rain, to his last award-winning translations. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Talking to a ghost
British poet laureate Ted Hughes (1930-1998) was married to American poet, author, and feminist icon Sylvia Plath, who committed suicide in 1963.

On one hand suicide is shabby and unfair because the people left behind are made to suffer unjustly. On the other hand, who can judge when someone has reached their limit, when enough is enough and life has lost all its meaning and flavor? These birthday letters are by someone left behind.

Much to his credit, Ted Hughes does not judge his wife's act. He never asks her why she did it, he simply accepts without remonstration that she chose to end her days. He stands accused by many of Plath's fans has having driven her to this, and his poems show he does accept a share of the blame for the suffering he caused her. The collection shows his suffering, and Hughes' perception of hers.

For her suicide to have caused such pain in him, the bond between Plath and Hughes must have been strong and true. We find many intimate stories in these letters as well, as when Hughes describes his American trips in Yellowstone Park or on some beach picking up a horseshoe crab.

The poems are written in the first and second person, with all save two addressed to Plath. They are all in Hughes' own voice, resonating like an internal monologue, but with no one to answer his words. Hughes is talking to a ghost.

Vincent Poirier, Dublin ... Read more

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When a giant iron woman arises from a marsh near a waste disposal factory, all men over eighteen turn into water creatures, and an entire country must confront the problems of pollution. ... Read more

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This volume contains six plays suitable for performance by children. Four were published under the title "The Coming of the Kings and Other Plays", and the other two are "Orpheus", previously only published in America, and "The Pig Organ" published for the first time. ... Read more

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In a combination of prose and poetry, God reveals the meaning of truth to his Son as together they visit a farm on Earth. ... Read more