Ted Hughes

About the Author

Ted Hughes was the youngest of three children born to working-class parents in Yorkshire. From an early age, he was interested in animals. This fascination persist throughout his life, and animals become a hallmark of his later writing. He won a scholarship to Cambridge where he studied English, anthropology, and archeology. In 1956, he met American poet Sylvia Plath; the two were married within four months and had two children together. Hughes and Plath’s troubled marriage, Plath’s death by suicide, and Hughes’s subsequent position as executor of her literary estate are controversial parts of his legacy. During a career that spanned more than four decades, Hughes was a prolific poet, editor, translator, essayist, and children’s book author; he published more than 15 collections of poetry; 18 children’s books; and many short stories, plays, and essays. He was appointed poet laureate of Great Britain in 1984, a position he held until his death of a heart attack in 1998. In his final years, he returned to the countryside, cultivating a farm called Moortown in Devon and becoming involved in local nature conservation efforts.

LitCharts guides for works by Ted Hughes

Explore LitCharts literature and poetry guides for works by Ted Hughes. Each literature guide includes a full summary, detailed analysis, and helpful resources. Each poetry guide offers line-by-line analysis and exploration of poetic devices.

A Memory

"A Memory" describes a farmer shearing a sheep. The speaker admires the farmer's combination of strength, tenderness, and dexterity as he wrestles with the impatient animal. The poem presents this ... view guide

A Picture of Otto

The British poet Ted Hughes published "A Picture of Otto" in his final collection, Birthday Letters, in 1998. This autobiographical collection focuses on the relationship between Hughes and his for... view guide

Anniversary

"Anniversary" is an autobiographical poem by the English poet Ted Hughes that elegizes his mother, Edith, who died in 1969. On the anniversary of her death, Hughes envisions his mother surrounded b... view guide

Bayonet Charge

"Bayonet Charge" was written by British poet Ted Hughes and published in Hughes's first collection, The Hawk in the Rain (1957). Set in the heat of battle, the poem focuses on the thoughts and beha... view guide

Cat and Mouse

In Ted Hughes's "Cat and Mouse," a mouse hopes to make a break for freedom but doesn't, for fear of being eaten by a cat. That predicament, the poem suggests, isn't just the mouse's: every living c... view guide

Football at Slack

"Football at Slack," by the English poet Ted Hughes, depicts a group of men playing football (a.k.a. soccer) on a stormy day. Instead of being put off by the wind and rain, the men are awed by natu... view guide

Fulbright Scholars

Ted Hughes published "Fulbright Scholars" in his last poetry collection, Birthday Letters (1998), shortly before his death. The collection meditates on his six-year marriage to American poet Sylvia... view guide

Full Moon and Little Frieda

In "Full Moon and Little Frieda," English poet Ted Hughes remembers an evening he spent with his daughter Frieda when she was a small child. The two go out into the garden on an ordinary night that... view guide

Hawk Roosting

"Hawk Roosting" is a poem by Ted Hughes, one of the 20th century's most prominent poets. In the poem, taken from Hughes's second collection, Lupercal, a hawk is given the power of speech and thoug... view guide

Relic

In "Relic," English poet Ted Hughes considers the circle of life. The sight of a picked-clean fish jawbone on the beach leads the poem's speaker to reflect that it's a fish-eat-fish world out there... view guide

Roe-Deer

"Roe-Deer" is British poet Ted Hughes's exploration of the mysteries of nature. Out for a walk on a dim, snowy winter morning, the speaker is transfixed by the sight of a pair of deer—and they seem... view guide

Snowdrop

"Snowdrop," by the English poet Ted Hughes, is a short poem describing the effects of a harsh winter landscape on various creatures. A mouse, weasel, and crow all struggle against the cold and dark... view guide

Telegraph Wires

"Telegraph Wires" was published in Ted Hughes's 1989 collection Wolfwatching. The poem examines the complex relationship between humankind and technology. On the one hand, the speaker seems to cons... view guide

The Harvest Moon

"The Harvest Moon" appeared in Season Songs (1975), a collection Ted Hughes originally intended to write for children but ended up gearing more toward adults. The poem's language is playful, almost... view guide

The Horses

"The Horses," by British poet Ted Hughes, describes the stillness and serenity of the natural world at dawn. The poem's speaker, likely representing Hughes himself, describes walking through the wo... view guide

The Jaguar

"The Jaguar" is a 1957 poem by Ted Hughes first published in his collection The Hawk in the Rain. The poem's speaker walks through a zoo in which most of the animals seem bored, tired, and defeated... view guide

The Other

Ted Hughes's "The Other" depicts the dangers of envy, entitlement, and comparison. The speaker describes a relationship between someone who had "nothing" (referred to as "you" throughout) and a wom... view guide

The Rain Horse

On a dreary and rainy day, an unnamed young man walks through the hills and farmland of the country where he grew up, but which he left 12 years ago. He has trudged miles from the village, trying t... view guide

The Shot

"The Shot" appears in Ted Hughes's 1998 collection Birthday Letters, which focuses on his relationship with the American poet Sylvia Plath. Hughes and Plath had an infamously tumultuous relationshi... view guide

The Thought Fox

"The Thought Fox" was first published in the British poet Ted Hughes's debut collection, The Hawk in the Rain, in 1957. One of Hughes's most popular poems, "The Thought Fox" is about creativity, in... view guide

Wind

The British poet Ted Hughes published "Wind" in his 1957 collection The Hawk in the Rain. The poem's speaker is both terrified of and mesmerized by a wild, destructive wind, which ravages the lands... view guide