View source for Ted Hughes

{{short description|English poet and children's writer (1930–1998)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name             =
| honorific_suffix = [[Order of Merit|OM]] [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] [[Royal Society of Literature|FRSL]]
| birth_name       = 
| image            = Ted_Hughes_by_Layle_Silbert_(1977).jpg
| office           = [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom]]
| monarch          = [[Elizabeth II]]
| term_start       = 28 December 1984
| term_end         = 28 October 1998
| predecessor      = [[John Betjeman|Sir John Betjeman]]
| successor        = [[Andrew Motion]]
| caption          = Hughes {{circa|1977}}
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1930|8|17|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Mytholmroyd]], Yorkshire, England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1998|10|28|1930|8|17|df=y}}
| death_place      = London, England
| occupation       = Poet, playwright, writer
| education        = [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]]
| spouse           = {{ubl|{{marriage|[[Sylvia Plath]]|1956|1963|end=died}}|{{marriage|Carol Orchard<br>|1970}}}}
| partner          = [[Assia Wevill]]<br>(1962–1969)
| children         = {{ubl|[[Frieda Hughes]]|[[Nicholas Hughes]]|Alexandra Wevill}}
| footnotes        =  
| awards           = {{ubl|{{awards |award=[[Somerset Maugham Award]] |year=1957 |title=Hawk in the Rain}}|{{awards |award=[[Guardian Children's Fiction Prize]] |year=1984 |title=What is the Truth?}}|{{awards |award=[[Whitbread Book of the Year]] |year=1998 |title=[[Tales from Ovid]]}}
}}
}}

'''Edward James Hughes''' (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998)<ref>{{cite news |last=Mackinnon |first=Lachlan |title=Obituary: Ted Hughes |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-ted-hughes-1181470.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-ted-hughes-1181470.html |archive-date=26 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=6 July 2019 |work=The Independent |date=30 October 1998}}</ref> was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He was appointed [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|Poet Laureate]] in 1984 and held the office until his death. In 2008, ''[[The Times]]'' ranked Hughes fourth on its list of "The 50 greatest [[British literature|British writers]] since 1945".

Hughes married fellow poet, American [[Sylvia Plath]], in 1956. They lived together in the United States and then in England, in a tumultuous relationship. They had two children before separating in 1962. Plath ended her life in 1963.

==Biography==

===Early life===
[[File:Ted Hughes Birthplace.jpg|left|thumb|Hughes's birthplace in [[Mytholmroyd]], Yorkshire]]
Hughes was born at 1 Aspinall Street, in [[Mytholmroyd]] in the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]], to William Henry (1894–1981) and Edith (née Farrar) Hughes (1898–1969).<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://ann.skea.com/THHome.htm
|title=Ted Hughes Homepage
|publisher=ann.skea.com
|access-date=30 September 2008
}}
</ref> He was raised among the local farms of the [[Calderdale|Calder Valley]] and on the Pennine moorland. The third child, Hughes had a brother Gerald (1920–2016),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/08/15/gerald-hughes-brother-of-ted--obituary/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/08/15/gerald-hughes-brother-of-ted--obituary/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Gerald Hughes, brother of Ted – obituary|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=15 August 2016|access-date=1 December 2018|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}{{cbignore}}</ref> who was ten years older.<ref name="Bellp4">Bell (2002) p.&nbsp;4.</ref> Next came their sister Olwyn Marguerite Hughes (1928–2016), who was two years older than Ted.

One of their mother's ancestors, [[Nicholas Ferrar]], had founded the [[Little Gidding community]].<ref name="NDB">{{cite ODNB |last=Sagar |first=Keith |chapter=Hughes, Edward James (1930–1998) |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-71121 |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/71121 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |access-date=9 May 2020 |url-access=registration}}</ref> Most of the more recent generations of the family had worked in the clothing and milling industries in the area.

Hughes's father, William, a [[Joinery|joiner]], was of Irish descent.<ref>Paul Bentley, ''Ted Hughes, Class and Violence'', 2014, pp.&nbsp;63 and 64.</ref><ref>Gerald Hughes, "Ted and I: A Brother's Memoir", 2014, p.&nbsp;4.</ref> He had enlisted with the [[Lancashire Fusiliers]] in the [[First World War]] and fought at [[Ypres]]. He narrowly escaped being killed; he was saved when a bullet hit him but lodged in a pay book in his breast pocket.<ref name="NDB"/> He was one of just 17 men of his regiment to return from the [[Gallipoli Campaign|Dardanelles Campaign]] (1915–16).<ref>{{cite book| last = Sagar| first = Keith| title = The Achievement of Ted Hughes| year = 1983| publisher = Manchester University Press| isbn = 978-0-7190-0939-6 | page = 9 }}</ref>

The stories of [[Western Front (World War I)|Flanders fields]] filled Hughes's childhood imagination (later described in the poem "Out").<ref name="Sagar6"/> Hughes noted, "my first six years shaped everything".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ann.skea.com/timeline.htm|title=Ted Hughes Timeline – publications, life-events etc.|access-date=11 April 2017}}</ref>

Hughes loved hunting and fishing, swimming, and picnicking with his family. He attended the Burnley Road School until he was seven. After his family moved to [[Mexborough]], he attended Schofield Street Junior School.<ref name="NDB"/> His parents ran a newsagent's and tobacconist's shop in the town.<ref name="Bellp4"/>

In ''Poetry in Making'', Hughes recalled that he was fascinated by animals, collecting, and drawing toy lead creatures. He acted as retriever when his elder brother gamekeeper shot [[Eurasian magpie|magpies]], owls, rats, and [[Eurasian curlew|curlews]]. He grew up amid the harsh realities of working farms in the valleys and on the moors.<ref name="Sagar6">Sagar (1978), p.&nbsp;6.</ref>

During his time in Mexborough, he explored Manor Farm at Old [[Denaby]]. He later said that he came to know it "better than any place on earth". His earliest poem "The Thought Fox", and earliest story "The Rain Horse", were recollections of the area. At the age of about 13 a friend, John Wholey, took Hughes to his home at Crookhill Lodge, on the Crookhill estate above [[Conisbrough]]. There the boys could fish and shoot. Hughes became close to the Wholey family and learnt a lot about wildlife from Wholey's father, the head gardener and [[gamekeeper]] on the estate. Hughes came to view fishing as an almost religious experience.<ref name="NDB"/>

Hughes attended [[Laurel Academy|Mexborough Secondary School (later Grammar School)]], where a succession of teachers encouraged him to write, and develop his interest in poetry. Teachers Miss McLeod and Pauline Mayne introduced him to the poets [[Gerard Manley Hopkins]] and [[T.S. Eliot]]. Hughes was also mentored by teacher John Fisher, and his own sister Olwyn, who was well versed in poetry.<ref name="NDB"/><ref name="Sagar7"/> Future poet [[Harold Massingham]] also attended this school and was mentored by Fisher. In 1946, one of Hughes's early poems, "Wild West", and a short story were published in the grammar school magazine ''The Don and Dearne''. He published further poems in 1948.<ref name="Bellp4"/> By 16, he had no other thought than being a poet.<ref name="NDB"/>

During the same year, Hughes won an open [[exhibition (scholarship)|exhibition]] in English at [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]], but chose to do his [[national service]] first.<ref>Keith M. Sagar (1981). ''Ted Hughes'' p.&nbsp;9. University of Michigan</ref> His two years of national service (1949–1951) passed comparatively easily. Hughes was stationed as a ground wireless mechanic in the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] on an isolated three-man station in east Yorkshire. During this time, he had little to do but "read and reread Shakespeare and watch the grass grow".<ref name="Bellp4"/> He learnt many of the plays by heart and memorised great quantities of [[W. B. Yeats]]'s poetry.<ref name="NDB"/>

===Career===
In 1951 Hughes initially studied English at Pembroke College under M.&nbsp;J.&nbsp;C. Hodgart, an authority on [[ballad]]ic forms. Hughes felt encouraged and supported by Hodgart's supervision, but attended few lectures and wrote no more poetry at this time, feeling stifled by literary academia and the "terrible, suffocating, maternal octopus" of literary tradition.<ref name="NDB"/><ref name="Sagar8">Sagar (1978), p.&nbsp;8.</ref> He wrote, "I might say, that I had as much talent for [[F. R. Leavis|Leavis]]-style dismantling of texts as anyone else, I even had a special bent for it, nearly a sadistic streak there, but it seemed to me not only a foolish game, but deeply destructive of myself."<ref name="NDB"/> In his third year, he transferred to [[Anthropology]] and [[Archaeology]], both of which would later inform his poetry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/11820/9/11820_%27Throttle%20College%27_%20Ted%20Hughes%27s%20Cambridge%20Poetry.pdf |title='Throttle College'? Ted Hughes's Cambridge Poetry |last=Reddick|first=Yvonne|author-link=Yvonne Reddick |publisher=University of Central Lancashire |date=September 2015|access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref> He did not excel as a scholar, receiving only a third-class grade in Part I of the Anthropology and Archaeology Tripos in 1954.<ref name="Bellp5">Bell (2002), p.&nbsp;5.</ref><ref>'Cambridge Tripos', ''Times'', 19 June 1954, p.&nbsp;3.</ref>

His first published poetry appeared in ''Chequer''.<ref name="Bellp5"/> A poem, "The little boys and the seasons", written during this time, was published in ''[[Granta]]'', under the pseudonym Daniel Hearing.<ref name="Sagar9">Sagar (1978), p.&nbsp;9.</ref>

After university, living in London and Cambridge, Hughes had many varied jobs including working as a rose gardener, a nightwatchman, and a reader for the British film company [[Rank Organisation|J. Arthur Rank]]. He worked at [[London Zoo]] as a washer-upper,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/tobias-hill-tales-from-decrypt-99601.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/tobias-hill-tales-from-decrypt-99601.html |archive-date=26 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Tobias Hill: Tales from decrypt|date=9 August 2003|newspaper =The Independent|access-date=23 June 2017}}</ref> a post that offered plentiful opportunities to observe animals at close quarters.<ref name="Bellp5"/>

On 25 February 1956,<ref>Jonathan Bate (2015). ''Ted Hughes: the unauthorised life'' p.&nbsp;98.</ref> Hughes and his friends held a party to launch ''[[St. Botolph's Review]]'', which had a single issue. In it, Hughes had four poems. At the party, he met American poet [[Sylvia Plath]], who was studying at Cambridge on a [[Fulbright Scholarship]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2010/apr/15/sylvia-plath-ted-hughes "Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes talk about their relationship"], ''The Guardian'', 15 April 2010. Excerpt taken from [[British Library]]'s sound archive, published on the audio CD ''The Spoken Word: Sylvia Plath''.</ref> She had already published extensively, won multiple awards, and came to the party specifically to meet Hughes and his fellow poet Lucas Myers. Hughes and Plath felt a great mutual attraction, but they did not meet again for another month, when Plath passed through London on her way to Paris. She visited him again on her return three weeks later.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}

{{Quote box|align=right|bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=right
|quote =<poem>
Cold, delicately as the dark snow,
A fox's nose touches twig, leaf;
Two eyes serve a movement, that now
And again now, and now, and now

Sets neat prints into the snow
Between trees, and warily a lame
Shadow lags by stump and in hollow
Of a body that is bold to come

Across clearings, an eye,
A widening deepening greenness,
Brilliantly, concentratedly,
Coming about its own business

Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox
It enters the dark hole of the head.
The window is starless still; the clock ticks,
The page is printed.
</poem>
|source =The last four stanzas of "The Thought Fox" <br/>from ''[[The Hawk in the Rain]]'', 1957<ref name="poetryarchive.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=13821|title=The Thought Fox - poetryarchive.org|access-date=11 April 2017}}</ref>}}
Hughes and Plath were married on 16 June 1956, at [[St George the Martyr, Holborn]], four months after they had first met. They chose the date, [[Bloomsday]], in honour of Irish writer [[James Joyce]].<ref name="NDB"/> Plath's mother was the only wedding guest. The couple spent most of their honeymoon at [[Benidorm]], in [[Province of Alicante|Alicante]] on Spain's [[Costa Blanca]].<ref name="Bellp6">Bell (2002), p.&nbsp;6.</ref>

Hughes's biographers note that Plath did not tell him about her history of depression and suicide attempts until much later.<ref name="NDB"/> Reflecting later in ''Birthday Letters'', Hughes commented that early on he could see chasms of difference between himself and Plath, but that in the first years of their marriage they both felt happy and supported, avidly pursuing their writing careers.<ref name="Bellp6"/>

On returning to Cambridge, they lived at 55 Eltisley Avenue. That year they each had poems published in ''[[The Nation]]'', ''[[Poetry (magazine)|Poetry]]'', and ''[[The Atlantic]]''.<ref name="Sagar11">Sagar (1978), p.&nbsp;11.</ref> Plath typed up Hughes's manuscript for his collection ''Hawk in the Rain'', which won a competition run by the Poetry centre of the [[Jewish Community Centre|Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association of New York]].<ref name="Bellp6"/> The first prize was publication by [[HarperCollins|Harper]]. Hughes gained widespread critical acclaim after the book's release in September 1957, including a [[Somerset Maugham Award]]. The work favoured hard-hitting [[trochee]]s and [[spondee]]s reminiscent of [[Middle English]] — a style he used throughout his career — over the more genteel latinate sounds.<ref name="NDB"/>

The couple moved to the United States in 1957 so that Plath could take a teaching position at her alma mater, [[Smith College]]. During this time, Hughes taught at the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst|University of Massachusetts]], Amherst. In 1958, they met artist [[Leonard Baskin]], who would later illustrate many of Hughes's books, including ''Crow''.<ref name="Bellp6"/>

The couple returned to England in 1959, staying for a short while back in [[Heptonstall]] and then finding a small flat in [[Primrose Hill]], London. They were both writing: Hughes was working on programmes for the BBC as well as producing essays, articles, reviews, and talks.<ref name="Bellp7">Bell, Charlie (2002) ''Ted Hughes'', Hodder and Stoughton, p.&nbsp;7.<!--ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> During this time, he wrote the poems that would later be published in ''Recklings'' (1966) and ''Wodwo'' (1967).

In March 1960, his book ''Lupercal'' was published, and it won the [[Hawthornden Prize]]. He found he was being labelled as the poet of the wild, writing only about animals.<ref name="NDB"/> Hughes began to seriously explore myth and esoteric practices including shamanism, alchemy and Buddhism, with [[The Tibetan Book of the Dead]] being a particular focus in the early 1960s.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rácz|first=István&nbsp;D.|title=The Realm Between Life and Death in Ted Hughes|date=1991|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41273855|journal=Hungarian Studies in English|volume=22|pages=121–126|jstor=41273855|issn=1217-0283}}</ref> He believed that imagination could heal dualistic splits in the human psyche, and poetry was the language of that work.<ref name="NDB"/>

Hughes and Plath had two children, [[Frieda Hughes]] (b. 1960) and [[Nicholas Hughes]] (1962–2009). In 1961, they bought the house [[Court Green]], in [[North Tawton]], Devon.

In the summer of 1962, Hughes began an affair with [[Assia Wevill]], who had been subletting the Primrose Hill flat with her husband. Under the cloud of his affair, Hughes and Plath separated in the autumn of 1962. Plath moved back to London and set up life in a new flat with the children.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kirk |first=Connie Ann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NBlJYGHVESwC&pg=PR7 |title=Sylvia Plath: A Biography |date=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-33214-2 |pages=xx }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date=10 April 1999 |title=Haunted by the ghosts of love |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/apr/10/tedhughes.sylviaplath |access-date=19 August 2022 |website=The Guardian }}</ref>

In 1966, after Plath's death, he wrote poems to accompany [[Leonard Baskin]]'s illustrations of crows, which became the epic narrative ''[[Crow (poetry)|The Life and Songs of the Crow]]'', one of the works for which Hughes is best known. Hughes did not finish the ''Crow'' sequence until after his work ''Cave Birds'' was published in 1975.<ref name="NDB" /> In 1967, while living with Wevill, Hughes produced two sculptures of a jaguar, one of which he gave to his brother and one to his sister. Gerald Hughes' sculpture, branded with the letter 'A' on its forehead, was offered for sale in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |date=31 December 2011 |title=Ted Hughes's jaguar sculpture hints at poet's demons |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/31/ted-hughes-jaguar-sculpture-sale |access-date=20 June 2021 |website=The Guardian |quote=Poet's family to sell rare jaguar sculpture that they believe shows his pain over Sylvia Plath's death}}</ref>

===Sylvia Plath's death ===

Plath took her own life on 11 February 1963.<ref name="Bellp8">Bell, Charlie (2002) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=RC5AHAAACAAJ Ted Hughes]'' Hodder and Stoughton p8</ref> As Plath's widower, Hughes became the executor of Plath's personal and literary estates.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-04-13 |title=The Bell Jar at 40 |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69721/the-bell-jar-at-40 |access-date=2026-01-18 |website=The Poetry Foundation}}</ref> He oversaw the posthumous publication of her manuscripts, including ''[[Ariel (Plath)|Ariel]]'' (1965). Hughes was criticized for editing choices he made after Plath's death, like omitting the poem "The Jailer" and "The Rabbit Catcher" from ''[[Ariel (Plath)|Ariel]]''. Some of the poems omitted include themes of domestic abuse and rape.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Divided Response to Poems of Ted Hughes |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/books/012798hughes-poetry-art.html?scp=147&sq=marriage%2520questions&st=Search |access-date=2026-01-18 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Jailer, by Sylvia Plath |url=https://www.poeticous.com/sylvia-plath/the-jailer |access-date=2026-01-18 |website=Poeticous |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Sachs |first=Andrea | last2=Grossman | first2=Lev |date=December 17, 2004 |title=Poetry: The Way She Wanted It |url=https://time.com/archive/6670513/poetry-the-way-she-wanted-it/ |access-date=Jan 17, 2025 |work=Times}}</ref> In a 2004 edition of ''[[Ariel (Plath)|Ariel]]'', twelve poems were added in, and Hughes wrote they were initially omitted because they were “personally aggressive.” <ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Plath |first=Sylvia |url=http://archive.org/details/arielrestorededi0000plat_k4w5 |title=Ariel : the restored edition |date=2004 | location=New York | publisher= HarperCollins Publishers |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-06-073259-2}}</ref>

Hughes admitted to destroying the final volume of Plath's journal which detailed their last few months together.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Plath |first=Sylvia |date=2000-03-20 |title=Journals |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2000/03/27/journals |access-date=2026-01-18 |work=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sylvia Plath |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/sylvia-plath |access-date=2026-01-18 |website=The Poetry Foundation}}</ref> In his foreword to ''The Journals of Sylvia Plath'' (1982), he defended his actions as a consideration toward his young children.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Plath |first=Sylvia |url=http://archive.org/details/lccn_0385272237 |title=The journals of Sylvia Plath |date=1982 | location=New York | publisher= Dial Press|others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-385-27223-0}}</ref> Feminists and fans of Sylvia Plath's work were upset and argued that he had essentially driven Plath to suicide and should not be responsible for her literary legacy.<ref>Joanny Moulin (2004). ''Ted Hughes: alternative horizons''. p.&nbsp;17. Routledge, 2004</ref><ref name="Bellp8" />

Following her death, pro-Plath protestors repeatedly heckled Hughes<ref>{{Cite news |date=1998-10-30 |title=Ted Hughes, 68, a Symbolic Poet And Sylvia Plath's Husband, Dies (Published 1998) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/30/books/ted-hughes-68-a-symbolic-poet-and-sylvia-plath-s-husband-dies.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250518113445/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/30/books/ted-hughes-68-a-symbolic-poet-and-sylvia-plath-s-husband-dies.html |archive-date=2025-05-18 |access-date=2026-01-18 |language=en}}</ref> and even threatened to kill Hughes in Plath's name.<ref name="Rhyme">"[https://www.theguardian.com/books/1993/feb/16/biography.sylviaplath Rhyme, reason and depression]". (16 February 1993). ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 9 July 2010.</ref><ref name="Monster">{{Cite web |title=Monster |url=https://www.robinmorgan.net/book/monster/ |access-date=2026-01-18 |website=Robin Morgan {{!}} Author, Activist, Feminist {{!}} NYC |language=en-US}}</ref> Those who were upset with Hughes attempted to chisel his last name off Plath's gravestone in [[Heptonstall]], so only her maiden name would remain.<ref name="Reading Women">{{cite book| last1 = Phegley| first1 = Jennifer| last2 = Badia| first2 = Janet| title = Reading Women Literary Figures and Cultural Icons from the Victorian Age to the Present| year = 2005| isbn = 978-0-8020-8928-1 | page = 252 | publisher = University of Toronto Press}}</ref><ref name="Rhyme" /> In 1989, as Hughes was under public attack, a battle raged in the letters' pages of ''[[The Guardian]]'' and ''[[The Independent]]''. In ''The Guardian'' on 20 April 1989, Hughes wrote the article "The Place Where Sylvia Plath Should Rest in Peace":<blockquote>
In the years soon after [Plath's] death, when scholars approached me, I tried to take their apparently serious concern for the truth about Sylvia Plath seriously. But I learned my lesson early... If I tried too hard to tell them exactly how something happened, in the hope of correcting some fantasy, I was quite likely to be accused of trying to suppress Free Speech. In general, my refusal to have anything to do with the Plath Fantasia has been regarded as an attempt to suppress Free Speech... The Fantasia about Sylvia Plath is more needed than the facts. Where that leaves respect for the truth of her life (and of mine), or for her memory, or for the literary tradition, I do not know.<ref name="Reading Women"/><ref>Hughes, Ted. "The Place Where Sylvia Plath Should Rest in Peace". ''The Guardian'', 20 April 1989</ref>
</blockquote>Following Plath's suicide, Hughes wrote two poems expressing his grief, "The Howling of Wolves" and "Song of a Rat".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wodwo |url=http://thetedhughessociety.org/wodwo |access-date=2026-01-18 |website=The Ted Hughes Society |language=en-US}}</ref> He did not write poetry again for three years. He broadcast extensively, wrote critical essays, and became involved in running Poetry International with [[Patrick Garland]] and [[Charles Osborne (music writer)|Charles Osborne]], in the hopes of connecting English poetry with the rest of the world.<ref>[https://thelondonmagazine.org/article/46684/ "50 Years of Poetry International", ''[[The London Magazine]]''</ref>

===1970–1994===
[[File:Lumb Bank - The Ted Hughes Arvon Centre - geograph.org.uk - 970898.jpg|thumb|right|The Ted Hughes Arvon Centre, [[Lumb Bank]] – an 18th-century mill-owner's house, once Hughes's home]]
In August 1970, Hughes married a second time, to Carol Orchard, a nurse. They were together until his death.

Hughes bought a house known as [[Lumb Bank]] near [[Hebden Bridge]], West Yorkshire, while still maintaining the property at [[Court Green]]. He also began cultivating a small farm near [[Winkleigh]], Devon, called ''Moortown''; he used this name as the title of one of his poetry collections. Later he served as the president of the charity [[Farms for City Children]], established by his friend [[Michael Morpurgo]] in [[Iddesleigh]].<ref name=hatherleigh/>

In 1970 Hughes and his sister Olwyn<ref>{{cite news|last1=Guttridge|first1=Peter|title=Olwyn Hughes: Literary agent who fiercely guarded the work of her brother, Ted Hughes, and his wife, Sylvia Plath|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/olwyn-hughes-literary-agent-who-fiercely-guarded-the-work-of-her-brother-ted-hughes-and-his-wife-a6799816.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/olwyn-hughes-literary-agent-who-fiercely-guarded-the-work-of-her-brother-ted-hughes-and-his-wife-a6799816.html |archive-date=26 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=10 January 2016|work=The Independent|date=7 January 2016}}</ref> set up the Rainbow Press. Between 1971 and 1981, it published sixteen titles, comprising poems by Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, [[Ruth Fainlight]], [[Thom Gunn]], and [[Seamus Heaney]]. The works were printed by Daedalus Press in Norfolk,<ref name="ann.skea/Hughes-Press">{{cite web |last1=Skea |first1=Ann |title=Ted Hughes and Small Press Publication |url=https://ann.skea.com/RainbowPress.htm |website=ann.skea.com |access-date=16 December 2024}}</ref> [[Rampant Lions Press]], and the John Roberts Press.

Hughes was appointed [[Poet Laureate]] in December 1984, following [[John Betjeman|Sir John Betjeman]]. A collection of his animal poems for children had been published by Faber earlier that year, ''What is the Truth?'', illustrated by R. J. Lloyd. For that work he won the annual [[Guardian Children's Fiction Prize]], a once-in-a-lifetime book award.<ref name=relaunch/>

Hughes wrote many works for children. He also collaborated closely with [[Peter Brook]] and the [[National Theatre Company]].<ref name="Bellp10"/> He dedicated himself to the [[Arvon Foundation]], which promotes writing education and has run residential writing courses at [[Lumb Bank]].<ref name="Bellp10">Bell, Charlie (2002) ''Ted Hughes'' Hodder and Stoughton, p.&nbsp;10.</ref>

In 1993, Hughes made a rare television appearance for [[Channel 4]], reading passages from his 1968 novel [[The Iron Man (novel)|''The Iron Man'']]. He was featured in the 1994 documentary ''Seven Crows A Secret''.<ref>{{YouTube|oQ0xVki00nU|''Seven Crows A Secret''}}</ref>

In early 1994, increasingly alarmed by the decline of fish in rivers local to his Devonshire home, Hughes became involved in conservation activism. He was one of the founding trustees of the [[Westcountry Rivers Trust]], a charity established to restore rivers through catchment-scale management and a close relationship with local landowners and riparian owners.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://wrt.org.uk/the-westcountry-rivers-trust-story/|title=The Westcountry Rivers Trust Story|date=25 May 2017|work=Westcountry Rivers Trust News|access-date=16 June 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Avron Foundation, Colden Valley - geograph.org.uk - 1188593.jpg|thumb|right|Lumb Bank in the Calder Valley]]

===Death===
Hughes was appointed a member of the [[Order of Merit]] by [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]] just before he died. He continued to live at the house in Devon, until suffering a fatal heart attack on 28 October 1998 while undergoing hospital treatment for [[colon cancer]] in [[London Borough of Southwark|Southwark]], London.{{citation needed|date=June 2026}}

On 3 November 1998, his funeral was held at [[North Tawton]] church, and he was cremated in [[Exeter]]. Speaking at the funeral, fellow poet [[Seamus Heaney]], said: 
<blockquote>"No death outside my immediate family has left me feeling more bereft. No death in my lifetime has hurt poets more. He was a tower of tenderness and strength, a great arch under which the least of poetry's children could enter and feel secure. His creative powers were, as Shakespeare said, still crescent. By his death, the veil of poetry is rent and the walls of learning broken."<ref>{{cite book| last = Boyanowsky| first = Ehor| title = Savage Gods, Silver Ghosts In the Wild With Ted Hughes| year = 2010| publisher = Douglas & McIntyre Limited| isbn = 978-1-55365-323-3 | page = 195}}</ref></blockquote>

On 16 March 2009, [[Nicholas Hughes]], the son of Hughes and Plath, died by suicide in his home in [[Alaska]]. He had suffered from depression.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/03/23/plath.son.suicide/index.html|title=Tragic poet Sylvia Plath's son kills himself|publisher=CNN|date=23 March 2009|access-date=16 July 2010}}</ref>

In January 2013, Carol Hughes announced that she would write a memoir of their marriage. ''[[The Times]]'' headlined its story "Hughes's widow breaks silence to defend his name" and observed that "for more than 40 years she has kept her silence, never once joining in the furious debate that has raged around the late Poet Laureate since the suicide of his first wife, the poet Sylvia Plath."<ref>[https://www.thetimes.com/article/my-life-with-ted-hughess-widow-breaks-silence-to-defend-his-name-573k0mjz8fz "My life with Ted: Hughes's widow breaks silence to defend his name"]. Valentine Low. ''The Times''. 7 January 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2015.</ref>

Hughes's brother Gerald published a memoir late in 2014, ''Ted and I: A Brother's Memoir''. ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'' described it as "a warm recollection of a lauded poet".<ref>[https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/gerald-hughes/ted-and-i "Ted and I: A Brother's Memoir by Gerald Hughes"]. ''Kirkus Reviews''. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2015.</ref>

==Work==
{{Quote box
| align = right
| bgcolor = #FFFFF0
| salign = right
| quote = <poem>
'''Crow Blacker Than Ever'''

When God, disgusted with man,
Turned towards heaven,
And man, disgusted with God,
Turned towards Eve,
Things looked like falling apart.

But Crow Crow
Crow nailed them together,
Nailing heaven and earth together-

So man cried, but with God's voice.
And God bled, but with man's blood.

Then heaven and earth creaked at the joint
Which became gangrenous and stank-
A horror beyond redemption.
The agony did not diminish.
Man could not be man nor God God.

The agony
Grew.

Crow
Grinned

Crying: "This is my Creation,"

Flying the black flag of himself.
</poem>
| source = ''[[Crow (poetry)|Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow]]'', 1970<ref>{{cite web |last=Young |first=Glynn |date=2013-12-03 |title=Poets and Poems: Ted Hughes' Crow |url=https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2013/12/03/poets-poems-ted-hughes-crow/ |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=Tweetspeak Poetry }}</ref>
}}
[[File:Poet Ted HughesDCP 2068.JPG|thumb|upright| ''Homage to Ted Hughes'' by [[Reginald Gray (artist)|Reginald Gray]] (2004), [[Bankfield Museum]], [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]]]]
Hughes's first collection, ''[[The Hawk in the Rain]]'' (1957), attracted considerable critical acclaim. In 1959 he won the Galbraith prize, which brought $5,000. His most significant work is perhaps ''[[Crow (poetry)|Crow]]'' (1970), which whilst it has been widely praised also divided critics, combining an apocalyptic, bitter, cynical and surreal view of the universe with what sometimes appeared simple, childlike verse. Crow was edited several times across Hughes' career. Within its opus he created a cosmology of the totemic Crow who was simultaneously God, Nature and Hughes' alter ego. The publication of ''Crow'' shaped Hughes' poetic career as distinct from other forms of English Nature Poetry.

In a 1971 interview with ''[[The London Magazine]]'', Hughes cited his main influences as including [[William Blake|Blake]], [[John Donne|Donne]], [[Gerard Manley Hopkins|Hopkins]], and [[T. S. Eliot|Eliot]]. He mentioned also [[Schopenhauer]], [[Robert Graves]]'s book ''[[The White Goddess]]'', and ''[[Bardo Thodol|The Tibetan Book of the Dead]]''.<ref name="Bell11">Bell (2002) p11</ref>

Hughes worked for 10 years on a [[prose poem]], "Gaudete", which he hoped to have made into a film. It tells the story of the vicar of an English village who is carried off by elemental spirits, and replaced in the village by his [[Enantiodromia|enantiodromic]] double, a changeling, fashioned from a log, who nevertheless has the same memories as the original vicar. The double is a force of nature who organises the women of the village into a "love coven" in order that he may father a new messiah. When the male members of the community discover what is going on, they murder him. The epilogue consists of a series of lyrics spoken by the restored priest in praise of a nature goddess, inspired by [[Robert Graves]]'s ''White Goddess''. It was printed in 1977. Hughes was very interested in the relationship between his poetry and the book arts, and many of his books were produced by notable presses and in collaborative editions with artists, for instance with [[Leonard Baskin]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hydrohotel.net/Hughes1.htm |title=Richard Price, Ted Hughes and the Book Arts |publisher=Hydrohotel.net |date=17 August 1930 |access-date=27 April 2010}}</ref>

In addition to his own poetry, Hughes wrote a number of translations of European plays, mainly classical ones. His ''[[Tales from Ovid]]'' (1997) contains a selection of [[free verse]] translations from [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]''. He also wrote both poetry and prose for children, one of his most successful books being ''[[The Iron Man (novel)|The Iron Man]]'', written to comfort his children after their mother Sylvia Plath's suicide. It later became the basis of [[Pete Townshend]]'s 1989 [[The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend|rock musical of the same name]], and of the 1999 animated film ''[[The Iron Giant]]'', the latter of which is dedicated to his memory.

Hughes was appointed [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|Poet Laureate]] in 1984 following the death of [[John Betjeman]]. It was later known that Hughes was second choice for the appointment. [[Philip Larkin]], the preferred nominee, had declined, because of ill health and a loss of creative momentum, dying a year later. Hughes served in this position until his death in 1998. In 1992 Hughes published ''[[Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being]]'', a monumental work inspired by Graves's ''[[The White Goddess]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.faber.co.uk/work/shakespeare-and-goddess-of-complete-being/9780571166046/|title=Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being|website=Faber.co.uk|access-date=23 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101010341/http://www.faber.co.uk/work/shakespeare-and-goddess-of-complete-being/9780571166046|archive-date=1 January 2011}}</ref> The book, considered Hughes's key work of prose, had a mixed reception "divided between those who considered it an important and original appreciation of Shakespeare's complete works, whilst others dismissed it as a lengthy and idiosyncratic appreciation of Shakespeare refracted by Hughes's personal belief system". Hughes himself later suggested that the time spent writing prose was directly responsible for a decline in his health.<ref name=journal>{{cite web |url=http://www.thetedhughessociety.org/life.htm |title=Life – The Ted Hughes Society Journal |publisher=Thetedhughessociety.org |access-date=7 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812051354/http://www.thetedhughessociety.org/life.htm |archive-date=12 August 2014 }}</ref> Also in 1992, Hughes published ''Rain Charm for the Duchy'', collecting together for the first time his Laureate works, including poems celebrating important royal occasions. The book also contained a section of notes throwing light on the context and genesis of each poem.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.faber.co.uk/catalog/rain-charm-for-the-duchy/9780571167135 |title=Rain Charm for the Duchy, Ted Hughes |publisher=Faber.co.uk |date=22 June 1992 |access-date=7 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810044424/http://www.faber.co.uk/catalog/rain-charm-for-the-duchy/9780571167135 |archive-date=10 August 2014 }}</ref>

In 1998, his ''[[Tales from Ovid]]'' won the [[Costa Book Awards|Whitbread Book of the Year Award]]. In ''[[Birthday Letters]]'', his last collection, Hughes broke his silence on Plath, detailing aspects of their life together and his own behaviour at the time. The book, the cover artwork for which was by their daughter [[Frieda Hughes|Frieda]], won the 1999 [[Whitbread Prize]] for poetry.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ted-hughes-wins-whitbread-prize-1046684.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ted-hughes-wins-whitbread-prize-1046684.html |archive-date=26 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Ted Hughes wins Whitbread prize|date=13 January 1999|access-date=11 April 2017}}</ref>

Hughes's definitive 1,333-page ''Collected Poems'' (Faber & Faber) appeared (posthumously) in 2003. A poem discovered in October 2010, "Last letter", describes what happened during the three days leading up to Plath's suicide.<ref name="lastletter">{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/cultural-capital/2010/10/hughes-poem-poet-publish|title=Exclusive: Ted Hughes's poem on the night Sylvia Plath died|date=6 October 2010|access-date=11 April 2017}}</ref> It was published in ''[[New Statesman]]'' on National Poetry Day, October 2010. Poet Laureate [[Carol Ann Duffy]] told [[Channel 4 News]] that the poem was "the darkest poem he has ever written" and said that for her it was "almost unbearable to read".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/news/newly-discovered-ted-hughes-poem|title=Newly discovered Ted Hughes poem|date=6 October 2010|access-date=11 April 2017}}</ref>

In 2011, several previously unpublished letters from Hughes to [[Craig Raine]] were published in the literary review [[Areté]].<ref>Areté, Issue 34, Spring/Summer 2011</ref> They relate mainly to the process of editing ''Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being'', and also contain a sequence of drafts of letters in which Raine attempts to explain to Hughes his disinclination to publish Hughes's poem ''The Cast'' in an anthology he was editing, on the grounds that it might open Hughes to further attack on the subject of Sylvia Plath. "Dear Ted, Thanks for the poem. It is very interesting and would cause a minor sensation" (4 April 1997). The poem was eventually published in ''Birthday Letters'' and Hughes makes a passing reference to this then unpublished collection: "I have a whole pile of pieces that are all – one way or another – little bombs for the studious and earnest to throw at me" (5 April 1997).

===Themes===
{{Quote box
| align = right
| quoted = 
| bgcolor = #FFFFF0
| salign = right
| quote = <poem>
This house has been far out at sea all night,
The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills,
Winds stampeding the fields under the window
Floundering black astride and blinding wet

Till day rose; then under an orange sky
The hills had new places, and wind wielded
Blade-light, luminous black and emerald,
Flexing like the lens of a mad eye.
</poem>
| source = From "Wind" <br/> ''[[The Hawk in the Rain]]'', 1957<ref name="poetryarchive.org"/>
}}

Hughes's earlier poetic work is rooted in nature and, in particular, the innocent savagery of animals, an interest from an early age. He wrote frequently of the mixture of beauty and violence in the natural world.<ref name="Bellp1">Bell (2002) p1</ref> Animals serve as a metaphor for his view on life: animals live out a struggle for the [[survival of the fittest]] in the same way that humans strive for ascendancy and success. Examples can be seen in the poems "Hawk Roosting" and "Jaguar".<ref name="Bellp1"/>

The [[West Riding]] dialect of Hughes's childhood remained a staple of his poetry, his lexicon lending a texture that is concrete, terse, emphatic, economical yet powerful. The manner of speech renders the hard facts of things and wards off self-indulgence.<ref name="Sagar7">Sagar (1978) p.&nbsp;7.</ref>

Hughes's later work is deeply reliant upon myth and the British [[bard]]ic tradition, heavily inflected with a [[modernism|modernist]], [[Jungian]], and ecological viewpoint.<ref name="Bellp1"/> He re-worked classical and archetypal myth working with a conception of the dark sub-conscious.<ref name="Bellp1"/>

=== Translation ===
In 1965, he founded with [[Daniel Weissbort]] the journal ''[[Modern Poetry in Translation]]'', which involved bringing to the attention of the West the work of [[Czesław Miłosz]], who would later go on to win the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]]. Weissbort and Hughes were instrumental in bringing to the English-speaking world the work of many poets who were hardly known, from such countries as Poland and Hungary, then controlled by the Soviet Union. Hughes wrote an introduction to a translation of ''[[Vasko Popa]]: Collected Poems'', in the "Persea Series of Poetry in Translation", edited by Weissbort.<ref name="Bayley">{{cite news|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1979/11/08/life-studies/|title=Life Studies|last=Bayley|first=John|journal=New York Review of Books|date=8 November 1979|access-date=4 August 2019|issn=0028-7504}}</ref> which was reviewed with favour by premiere literary critic John Bayley of Oxford University in ''The New York Review of Books''.<ref name="Bayley"/>

==Commemoration and legacy==
A memorial walk was inaugurated in 2005, leading from the Devon village of [[Belstone]] to Hughes's memorial stone above the [[River Taw]], on [[Dartmoor]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/4954666.stm|title=Walking with words on park trail|date=28 April 2006|work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Ted Hughes Memorial Walk |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/outdoors/walks/ted_hughes_memorial.shtml |title=BBC Devon – Ted Hughes memorial |publisher=BBC |date=31 January 2008 |access-date=27 April 2010}}</ref> and in 2006 a Ted Hughes poetry trail was built at [[Stover Country Park]], also in Devon.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Devon County Council|url=http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/environmentplanning/natural_environment/country_parks/stover_country_park/ted-hughes-poetrytrail.htm|title=Stover Country Park – Ted Hughes Poetry Trail|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910205819/http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/environmentplanning/natural_environment/country_parks/stover_country_park/ted-hughes-poetrytrail.htm|archive-date=10 September 2015}}</ref> In 2008 ''[[The Times]]'' ranked Hughes fourth on its list of "The 50 greatest [[British literature|British writers]] since 1945".<ref>{{cite web|date=5 January 2008 |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3127837.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511204023/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3127837.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 May 2008 |title=The 50 greatest British writers since 1945|work=The Times|accessdate= 1 February 2010}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

On 28 April 2011, a [[blue plaque|memorial plaque]] for Hughes was unveiled at [[North Tawton]] by his widow Carol Hughes.<ref name="hatherleigh">{{cite web|url=http://www.hatherleigh.net/ted_hughes.asp|title=North Tawton Blue Plaque for Ted Hughes.|publisher=GGH Marketing Communication|access-date=11 April 2017|archive-date=23 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023162051/http://www.hatherleigh.net/ted_hughes.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> At Lumb Bridge near [[Pecket Well]], [[Calderdale]] is a plaque, installed by The Elmet Trust, commemorating Hughes's poem "Six Young Men", which was inspired by an old photograph of six young men taken at that spot. The photograph, taken just before the [[First World War]], was of six young men who were all soon to lose their lives in the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1001767|title=Geograph:: Ted Hughes Plaque (C) Peter Worrell|access-date=11 April 2017}}</ref> A Ted Hughes Festival is held each year in Mytholmroyd, led by the Elmet Trust,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theelmettrust.co.uk/calendar/41/30-The-Ted-Hughes-Festival-2011.htm|title=theelmettrust.co.uk|access-date=11 April 2017}}</ref> an educational body founded to support the work and legacy of Hughes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theelmettrust.co.uk/about-the-elmet-trust.htm|title=theelmettrust.co.uk|access-date=11 April 2017}}</ref>

In 2010, it was announced that Hughes would be commemorated with a memorial in [[Poets' Corner]] in [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8580824.stm Poets' Corner memorial for Ted Hughes], ''BBC News'', 22 March 2010</ref> On 6 December 2011, a slab of [[Kirkstone green slate]] was ceremonially placed at the foot of the memorial commemorating [[T. S. Eliot]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16055750 Ted Hughes takes his place in Poets' Corner], ''BBC News'', 2 November 2011</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/news/ted-hughes-memorial-marks-uk-poetrys-evolution|title=Ted Hughes memorial marks poetic evolution|first=Felicity|last=Spector|date=6 December 2011|access-date=11 April 2017}}</ref> Poet [[Seamus Heaney]] and actress [[Juliet Stevenson]] gave readings at the ceremony, which was also attended by Hughes's widow Carol and daughter Frieda, and by the poets [[Simon Armitage]], [[Blake Morrison]], [[Andrew Motion]] and [[Michael Morpurgo]].<ref name="corner-guardian">{{cite news|title=Ted Hughes to take place in Poets' Corner|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/06/ted-hughes-poets-corner?INTCMP=SRCH|access-date=9 December 2011|newspaper=The Guardian|date=6 December 2011}}</ref> Motion paid tribute to Hughes as "one of the two great poets of the last half of the last century" (the other being [[Philip Larkin]]).<ref>{{cite news|title=Hughes takes his place in Westminster Abbey|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/hughes-takes-his-place-in-westminster-abbey/story-e6frg8n6-1226216600979|access-date=7 December 2011|newspaper=The Australian|date=8 December 2011}}</ref> Hughes's memorial stone bears lines from "That Morning", a poem recollecting the epiphany of a huge shoal of salmon flashing by as he and his son Nicholas waded a stream in Alaska:<ref name=corner-guardian/> "So we found the end of our journey / So we stood alive in the river of light / Among the creatures of light, creatures of light."

In October 2015, the [[BBC Two]] major documentary ''Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death'' examined Hughes's life and work. The programme included contributions from poets [[Simon Armitage]] and [[Ruth Fainlight]], broadcaster [[Melvyn Bragg]], biographers [[Elaine Feinstein]] and [[Jonathan Bate]], activist [[Robin Morgan]], critic [[Al Alvarez]], publicist Jill Barber, friend Ehor Boyanowsky, patron Elizabeth Sigmund, friend Daniel Huws, Hughes's US editor Frances McCullough, and younger cousin Vicky Watling. His daughter [[Frieda Hughes|Frieda]] spoke for the first time about her father and mother.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06j7pkl |title=BBC Two – Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death |publisher=BBC |date=10 October 2015 |access-date=10 October 2015}}</ref>

===Archive===
Hughes archival material is held by institutions such as [[Emory University]] and [[Exeter University]]. In 2008, the [[British Library]] acquired a large collection comprising over 220 files containing manuscripts, letters, journals, personal diaries, and correspondence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pressandpolicy.bl.uk/Press-Releases/Saved-for-the-nation-British-Library-acquires-major-Ted-Hughes-archive-364.aspx|title=Press Office Home – The British Library|access-date=11 April 2017|archive-date=6 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006084456/http://pressandpolicy.bl.uk/Press-Releases/Saved-for-the-nation-British-Library-acquires-major-Ted-Hughes-archive-364.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> The library archive is accessible through the [[British Library]] website.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpsubject/literature/authors/tedhughes/tedhughes.html|title=Hughes, Ted (1930–1998)|first=Richard|last=Price|access-date=11 April 2017|archive-date=8 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100208233824/http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpsubject/literature/authors/tedhughes/tedhughes.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
There is also a Collection Guide available grouping together all of the Hughes material at the British Library with links to material held by other institutions.<ref>[https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/ted-hughes-collection Ted Hughes Collection Guide] Retrieved 11 May 2020</ref> Inspired by Hughes's ''Crow'' the German painter [[Johannes Heisig]] created a large painting series in black and white which was presented to the public for the first time on the occasion of Berlin Museum Long Night in August 2011 at the SEZ Berlin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berliner-art.com/crow/crow_johannesheisig_series.html|title=berliner art|first=max koffler/galerie|last=son|website=www.berliner-art.com}}</ref>

===Ted Hughes Award===
In 2009, the [[Ted Hughes Award]] for new work in poetry was established with the permission of Carol Hughes. [[The Poetry Society]] notes "the award is named in honour of Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate, and one of the greatest twentieth century poets for both children and adults".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/tedhughes/history/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519170328/http://poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/tedhughes/history/|url-status=dead|title=Hughes Award history|archive-date=19 May 2011}}</ref> Members of the [[Poetry Society]] and [[Poetry Book Society]] recommend a living UK poet who has completed the newest and most innovative work that year, "highlighting outstanding contributions made by poets to our cultural life". The £5,000 prize was previously funded from the annual honorarium that former [[Poet Laureate]] [[Carol Ann Duffy]] received as Laureate from The Queen.<ref name="THA">{{cite web|url=http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/tedhughes/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426195827/http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/tedhughes|url-status=dead|title=Ted Hughes Award, hosted by the Poetry Society|archive-date=26 April 2011}}</ref>

===Ted Hughes Society===
The Ted Hughes Society, founded in 2010, publishes a peer-reviewed on-line journal, which can be downloaded by members. Its website also publishes news, and has articles on all Hughes's major works for free access. The Society staged Hughes conferences in 2010 and 2012 at [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]], and will continue to stage conferences elsewhere.

===Ted Hughes Paper Trail===
On 16 November 2013, Hughes's former hometown of [[Mexborough]] held a special performance trail, as part of its "Right Up Our Street" project, celebrating the writer's connection with the town. The free event included a two-hour ramble through Mexborough following the route of young Hughes's [[paper round]]. Participants visited some of the important locations which influenced the poet, with the trail beginning at Hughes's former home, which is now a furniture shop.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk/leisure/95369/mexborough-hosts-ted-hughes-paper-trail.aspx|title=Mexborough hosts Ted Hughes' paper trail|newspaper=Rotherham Advertiser|date=12 November 2013|access-date=2 August 2025|first=Amy|last=Westby|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101163147/https://www.rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk/leisure/95369/mexborough-hosts-ted-hughes-paper-trail.aspx|archive-date=1 January 2014}}</ref>

===Elmet Trust===
The Elmet Trust, founded in 2006, celebrates the life and work of Ted Hughes. The Trust looks after Hughes's birthplace in Mytholmroyd, which is available as a holiday let and writer's retreat. The Trust also runs Hughes-related events, including an annual Ted Hughes Festival.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theelmettrust.org |title=Home |publisher=Theelmettrust.org |access-date=17 April 2016}}</ref>

==In other media==
* Hughes's 1983 ''River'' anthology was the inspiration for the 2000 ''River'' cello concerto by British composer [[Sally Beamish]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sallybeamish.com/pid/466/info.html|title=Sally Beamish website|website=sallybeamish.com|access-date=8 January 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924093744/http://www.sallybeamish.com/pid/466/info.html|archive-date=24 September 2015}}</ref>
* Selected stories from Hughes' ''How the Whale Became'' and ''The Dreamfighter'' were adapted into a family opera by composer [[Julian Philips]] and writer Edward Kemp, entitled ''How the Whale Became''. Commissioned by the [[Royal Opera House]], the opera was premiered in December 2013.<ref>[http://www.roh.org.uk/news/the-inventive-and-beguiling-world-of-julian-philips ''The Inventive and beguiling world of Julian Philips'', Rachel Beaumont, Royal Opera House]. Retrieved 27 August 2018.</ref>
* Hughes was portrayed by [[Daniel Craig]] in the 2003 film ''[[Sylvia (2003 film)|Sylvia]]''.<ref>{{citation|title=Frieda Hughes attacks BBC for film on Plath|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=3 February 2003|last=Wilson|first=Jamie|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/feb/03/bbc.film|access-date= 28 August 2018}}</ref>

==Selected works==
===Poetry collections===
{{Div col}}
* 1957 ''[[The Hawk in the Rain]]''
* 1960  ''Lupercal''
* 1967  ''Wodwo''
* 1970  ''[[Crow (poetry)|Crow: From the Life and the Songs of the Crow]]''
* 1972  ''Selected Poems 1957–1967''
* 1975  ''Cave Birds''
* 1977  ''Gaudete''
* 1979  ''[[Remains of Elmet]]'' (with photographs by [[Fay Godwin]])
* 1979  ''[[Moortown Diary|Moortown]]''
* 1981  ''Under the North Star'' (drawings by [[Leonard Baskin]], includes the poem “The Musk-Ox”)
* 1983  ''River''
* 1986  ''Flowers and Insects''
* 1989  ''[[Wolfwatching]]''
* 1992  ''[[Rain-charm for the Duchy]]''
* 1994  ''New Selected Poems 1957–1994''
* 1997  ''[[Tales from Ovid]]''
* 1998  ''[[Birthday Letters]]''—winner of the 1998 [[Forward Poetry Prize]] for best collection, the 1998 [[T. S. Eliot Prize]], and the 1999 [[British Book of the Year]] award.
* 2003  ''Collected Poems''
* 2016 ''A Ted Hughes Bestiary: Poems''
{{Div col end}}

===Volumes of translation===
* ''[[Spring Awakening (play)|Spring Awakening]]'' by [[Frank Wedekind]]
* ''[[Blood Wedding]]'' by [[Federico García Lorca]]
* 1968 ''Yehuda Amichai, Selected Poems'' by [[Yehuda Amichai]], Cape Goliard Press (London, England), revised edition published as Poems, Harper (New York, NY), 1969.
* 1977 ''Amen'' by [[Yehuda Amichai]], Amen, Harper (New York, NY)
* 1989 ''The Desert of Love: Selected Poems'' by [[János Pilinszky]], Anvil Press Poetry (Greenwich, UK)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thetedhughessociety.org/janospilinsky.htm|title=On János Pilinszky at his website|access-date=23 June 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325064034/http://www.thetedhughessociety.org/janospilinsky.htm|archive-date=25 March 2015}}</ref>
* 1997 ''Tales from Ovid'' by [[Ovid]] Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (New York, NY)
* 1999 ''The Oresteia'' by [[Aeschylus]], Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (New York, NY)
* 1999 ''[[Phèdre]]'' by [[Jean Racine]], Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (New York, NY)
* 1999 ''Alcestis'' by [[Euripides]], Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (New York, NY)

===Anthologies edited by Hughes===
* {{cite book |title=Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-57-122343-5}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.faber.co.uk/9780571223435-emily-dickinson.html|title=Emily Dickinson|website=Public Store View}}</ref>
* {{cite book |title=Selected Poems of Sylvia Plath |publisher=Faber and Faber |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-57-113586-8}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.faber.co.uk/9780571135868-selected-poems-of-sylvia-plath.html|title=Selected Poems of Sylvia Plath|website=Public Store View}}</ref>
* {{cite book |title=A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse |publisher=Faber and Faber |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-57-123379-3|title-link=William Shakespeare }}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.faber.co.uk/9780571233793-a-choice-of-shakespeares-verse.html|title=A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse|website=Public Store View}}</ref>
* {{cite book |title=A Choice of Coleridge's Verse |publisher=Faber and Faber |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-57-117604-5|title-link=Samuel Taylor Coleridge }}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.faber.co.uk/9780571176045-a-choice-of-coleridges-verse.html|title=A Choice of Coleridge's Verse|website=Public Store View|accessdate=14 March 2021}}</ref>
* {{cite book |title=The Rattle Bag |editor=With [[Seamus Heaney]] |publisher=Faber and Faber |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-57-111976-9}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/oct/25/poetry.highereducation|title=Seamus Heaney: Bags of enlightenment|author=Guardian Staff|newspaper=The Guardian |date=25 October 2003|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref>
* {{cite book |title=The School Bag|editor=With [[Seamus Heaney]] |publisher=Faber and Faber |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-57-117750-9}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.faber.co.uk/9780571225842-the-school-bag.html|title=The School Bag|website=Public Store View}}</ref>
* {{cite book |title=By Heart: 101 Poems to Remember|publisher= Faber and Faber |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-57-119263-2}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xlkQgAACAAJ|title=By Heart: 101 Poems to Remember|first=Ted|last=Hughes|date=19 February 1997|publisher=Faber & Faber|via=Google Books|isbn=9780571192632}}</ref>
* 1965: ''[[Modern Poetry in Translation]]'' (literary magazine)<ref>{{cite web|title=Modern Poetry in Translation 50th Anniversary Study Day – Cambridge |url=http://www.polishculture.org.uk/literature/events/news/article/mpt-50th-anniversary-study-day-cambridge-2972.html|work=Polish Cultural Institute|access-date=3 April 2016}}</ref>
* {{cite book |title=Here Today (anthology for children) |year=1963 |publisher=Hutchinson}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRyoBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA69|title=Verse Writing in Schools: The Commonwealth and International Library: Pergamon Oxford English Series|first=Eric&nbsp;J.|last=Bolton|date=16 May 2014|publisher=Elsevier|via=Google Books|isbn=9781483145815}}</ref>

===Short story collection===
* 1995 ''The Dreamfighter, and Other Creation Tales'', [[Faber and Faber]], London, England.
* 1995 ''Difficulties of a Bridegroom: Collected Short Stories'', [[Picador (imprint)|Picador]], New York, NY.

===Prose===
* 1967 ''Poetry Is'', [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]], New York.
* 1967 ''Poetry in the Making: An Anthology of Poems and Programmes from "Listening and Writing"'', Faber and Faber, London.
* 1992, revised and corrected 1993 ''Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being'', [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]], New York.
* 1993 ''A Dancer to God: Tributes to T. S. Eliot''. (Ed) Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York.
* 1994 ''Winter Pollen: Occasional Prose'', (essay collection) Edited by William Scammell, Faber and Faber (London), Picador USA (New York) 1995.

===Books for children===
* 1961  ''Meet my Folks!'' (illustrated by [[George Worsley Adamson|George Adamson]])
* 1963  ''How the Whale Became'' (illustrated by [[George Worsley Adamson|George Adamson]])
* 1963  ''The Earth-Owl and Other Moon-People'' (illustrated by R.A. Brandt)
* 1964  ''Nessie the Mannerless Monster'' (illustrated by [[Gerald Rose]])
* 1967  ''Poetry in the Making''<ref>The book began as a series of 'talks' that Hughes wrote, and read, for the BBC Schools Broadcasting radio series "Listening and Writing". The five surviving programmes, 'Capturing Animals', 'Moon Creatures', 'Learning to Think', 'Writing about Landscape' and 'Meet my Folks!' are available on the BBC British Library CD: "Ted Hughes: Poetry in the Making". The Spoken Word. British Library. 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-7123-0554-9}}</ref>
* 1968  ''[[The Iron Man (novel)|The Iron Man]]'' (first illustrated by [[George Worsley Adamson|George Adamson]], in 1985 by [[Andrew Davidson (illustrator)|Andrew Davidson]] and in 2019 by [[Chris Mould (illustrator)|Chris Mould]])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.andrewdavidsonillustration.com/engravings/02.html|title=Andrew Davidson Illustration & Design|website=www.andrewdavidsonillustration.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/news/archives/3989 |title=Original artwork from 'The Iron Man' by Ted Hughes on display in the Faculty of English, May 2018 |publisher=University of Cambridge: Faculty of English}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book/t/the-iron-man2/|title=The Iron Man|website=www.booktrust.org.uk}}</ref>
* 1970  ''Coming of the Kings and Other Plays''
* 1976  ''Season Songs'' (illustrated by [[Leonard Baskin]])
* 1976  ''Moon-Whales and Other Moon Poems'' (illustrated by Leonard Baskin)
* 1978  ''Moon-Bells and Other Poems'' (illustrated by Felicity Roma Bowers)
* 1981  ''Under the North Star'' (illustrated by [[Leonard Baskin]], includes the poem “The Musk-Ox”)
* 1984  ''What Is the Truth?'' (illustrated by R. J. Lloyd), for which Hughes won the [[Guardian Prize]]<ref name="relaunch">[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/12/guardianchildrensfictionprize2001.guardianchildrensfictionprize "Guardian children's fiction prize relaunched: Entry details and list of past winners"]. ''The Guardian'' 12 March 2001. Retrieved 1 August 2012.</ref><!-- about the book see http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3522065-what-is-the-truth -- not a reliable source but i have used the parenth. label (Animal Poems) above -->
* 1986  ''Ffangs the Vampire Bat and the Kiss of Truth'' (illustrated by [[Chris Riddell]])
* 1987  ''The Cat and the Cuckoo'' (illustrated by R. J. Lloyd)
* 1988  ''Tales of the Early World'' (illustrated by Andrew Davidson)
* 1993  ''[[The Iron Woman]]'' (illustrated by [[Andrew Davidson (illustrator)|Andrew Davidson]])
* 1993  ''The Mermaid's Purse'' (illustrated by R. J. Lloyd, Sunstone Press)
* 1995  ''Collected Animal Poems'': Vols. 1–4, Faber & Faber
*2002 ''The Cat and the Cuckoo'', new edition illustrated by [[Flora McDonnell]], Faber & Faber

===Plays===
* ''The House of Aries'' (radio play), broadcast, 1960.
* ''The Calm'' produced in [[Boston]], 1961.
* ''A Houseful of Women'' (radio play), broadcast, 1961.
* ''The Wound'' (radio play), broadcast, 1962.
* ''Difficulties of a Bridegroom'' (radio play), broadcast, 1963.
* ''Epithalamium'' produced in London, 1963.
* ''Dogs'' (radio play), broadcast, 1964.
* ''The House of Donkeys'' (radio play), broadcast, 1965.
* ''The Head of Gold'' (radio play), broadcast, 1967.
* ''The Coming of the Kings and Other Plays'' (based on juvenile work).
* ''The Price of a Bride'' (juvenile, radio play), broadcast, 1966.
* Adapted [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]'s ''[[Oedipus (Seneca)|Oedipus]]'', produced in London, 1968).
* ''[[Orghast]]'' (with [[Peter Brook]]), produced in [[Persepolis]], Iran, 1971.
* ''Eat Crow'', Rainbow Press, London, England, 1971.
* ''The Iron Man'', juvenile, televised, 1972.
* ''Orpheus'', 1973.

===Limited editions===
* ''The Burning of the Brothel'' (Turret Books, 1966)
* ''Recklings'' (Turret Books, 1967)
* ''Scapegoats and Rabies'' (Poet & Printer, 1967)
* ''Animal Poems'' (Richard Gilbertson, 1967)
* ''A Crow Hymn'' (Sceptre Press, 1970)
* ''The Martyrdom of Bishop Farrar'' (Richard Gilbertson, 1970)
* ''Crow Wakes'' (Poet & Printer, 1971)
* ''Shakespeare's Poem'' (Lexham Press, 1971)
* ''Eat Crow'' (Rainbow Press, 1971)
* ''Prometheus on His Crag'' (Rainbow Press, 1973)
* ''Crow: From the Life and the Songs of the Crow'' (Illustrated by Leonard Baskin, published by Faber & Faber, 1973)
* ''Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter'' (Rainbow Press,1974)
* ''Cave Birds'' (illustrated by Leonard Baskin, published by Scolar Press, 1975)
* ''Earth-Moon'' (illustrated by Ted Hughes, published by Rainbow Press, 1976)
* ''Eclipse'' (Sceptre Press, 1976)
* ''Sunstruck'' (Sceptre Press, 1977)
* ''A Solstice'' (Sceptre Press, 1978)
* ''Orts'' (Rainbow Press, 1978)
* ''Moortown Elegies ''(Rainbow Press, 1978)
* ''The Threshold'' (illustrated by [[Ralph Steadman]], published by Steam Press, 1979)
* ''Adam and the Sacred Nine'' (Rainbow Press, 1979)
* ''Four Tales Told by an Idiot'' (Sceptre Press, 1979)
* ''The Cat and the Cuckoo'' (illustrated by R.J. Lloyd, published by Sunstone Press, 1987)
* ''A Primer of Birds: Poems'' (illustrated by Leonard Baskin, published by Gehenna Press, 1989)
* ''Capriccio'' (illustrated by Leonard Baskin, published by Gehenna Press, 1990)
* ''The Mermaid's Purse'' (illustrated by R.J. Lloyd, published by Sunstone Press, 1993)
* ''Howls and Whispers'' (illustrated by Leonard Baskin, published by Gehenna Press, 1998)

Many of Ted Hughes's poems have been published as limited-edition [[broadside (printing)|broadsides]].<ref>Keith Sagar & Stephen Tabor, ''Ted Hughes: A bibliography 1946–1980'' Mansell Publishing, 1983</ref>

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Sources and further reading===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Bate, Jonathan. ''Ted Hughes: the unauthorised life'' (2015. William Collins)
* Bell, Charlie. ''Ted Hughes'' (2002. Hodder and Stoughton)
* Carter, Sebastian. 'The Rainbow Press', in ''Parenthesis'', 12 (November 2006), pp.&nbsp;32–35
* [[Michael Dirda|Dirda, Michael]]. ''Bound to Please'' (pp.&nbsp;17–21). (2005. W. W. Norton)
* [[Elaine Feinstein|Feinstein, Elaine]]. ''Ted Hughes: the life of a poet''. (2001. W. W. Norton)
* Gammage, Nick (ed.) ''The Epic Poise: a celebration of Ted Hughes'' (1999. Faber and Faber)
* Hadley, Edward. ''The Elegies of Ted Hughes'' (2010. Palgrave Macmillan)
* {{cite journal| url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1669/the-art-of-poetry-no-71-ted-hughes| title=Ted Hughes, The Art of Poetry No. 71| journal=The Paris Review| date=Spring 1995| first= Drue |last=Heinz| volume=Spring 1995| issue=134| author-link=Drue Heinz}}
* Rees, Roger (ed.) ''Ted Hughes and the Classics'' (2009. Oxford University Press)
* Roberts, Neil. ''Ted Hughes: a literary life'' (2006. Palgrave Macmillan)
* Sagar, Keith. ''The Art of Ted Hughes'' (1978. Cambridge University Press)
* Sagar, Keith. ''The Laughter of Foxes: A Study of Ted Hughes'' (2000. Liverpool U.P.)
* Sagar, Keith. ''Ted Hughes and Nature: Terror and Exultation'' (2009. Fastprint)
* Sagar, Keith (ed.) ''The Achievement of Ted Hughes'' (1983. Manchester U.P.)
* Sagar, Keith (ed.) ''The Challenge of Ted Hughes'' (1994. Macmillan)
* Sagar, Keith and Stephen Tabor. ''Ted Hughes: A Bibliography 1946–1995'' (1998. Mansell)
* Skea, Ann. ''Ted Hughes: The Poetic Quest'' (1994. University of New England Press)
* [[Emma Tennant|Tennant, Emma]]. ''Burnt Diaries'' (1999. Canongate Books Ltd)
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category|Ted Hughes}}
* [http://www.thetedhughessociety.org Ted Hughes Society website]
*[https://www.bl.uk/people/ted-hughes Ted Hughes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613083753/https://www.bl.uk/people/ted-hughes |date=13 June 2020 }} at the British Library
* {{cite web |last1=Skea |first1=Ann |title=<!-- Ann Skea Homepage. Links to --> Ted Hughes pages and timeline, Reviews, Literary links. |url=https://ann.skea.com/ |website=ann.skea.com}}

'''Papers'''
* [http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpsubject/literature/authors/tedhughes/tedhughes.html Ted Hughes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100208233824/http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpsubject/literature/authors/tedhughes/tedhughes.html |date=8 February 2010 }} – modern British Collections – [[British Library]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130517165751/http://marbl.library.emory.edu/collection-overview/featured-collections/ted-hughes-papers-and-related-collections Ted Hughes archive] at [[Emory University]]
* [http://voyager.library.uvic.ca/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=2017999 Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath collection] at Special Collections,  [[University of Victoria]]
*[http://lib-archives.ex.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=EUL+MS+58 Ted Hughes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240629054142/http://lib-archives.ex.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=EUL+MS+58 |date=29 June 2024 }} at Special Collections, [[University of Exeter]]
*[https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4078920 Finding aid to Ted Hughes papers] at  Rare Book & Manuscript Library, [[Columbia University]]
*{{cite web |last1=Hughes |first1=Olwyn |last2=Hughes |first2=Ted |title=Objects relating to the Rainbow Press |url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/books-manuscripts-from-medieval-to-modern/olwyn-hughes-and-ted-hughes-objects-relating-to |website=[[Sotheby's]] |access-date=16 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241216224531/https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/books-manuscripts-from-medieval-to-modern/olwyn-hughes-and-ted-hughes-objects-relating-to |archive-date=16 December 2024 |date=2022 |quote=Property of Frieda Hughes}}

{{Ted Hughes}}
{{svplaureats}}
{{Poets Laureate of the United Kingdom}}
{{Sylvia Plath}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Ted}}
[[Category:Ted Hughes| ]]
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century English poets]]
[[Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer in England]]
[[Category:English children's writers]]
[[Category:English people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners]]
[[Category:Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath laureates]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Merit]]
[[Category:People from Mytholmroyd]]
[[Category:People from Mexborough]]
[[Category:Sylvia Plath]]
[[Category:University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty]]
[[Category:Greek–English translators]]
[[Category:20th-century English translators]]
[[Category:20th-century English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Hungarian–English translators]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]]
[[Category:Writers from South Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Writers from West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:British poets laureate]]
[[Category:T. S. Eliot Prize winners]]
[[Category:Members of the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Arts]]
[[Category:20th-century Royal Air Force personnel]]
[[Category:Military personnel from West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force airmen]]
[[Category:Writers about Devon]]
[[Category:Plath–Hughes family]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Mythopoeic writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English male poets]]