Monday, May 22, 2017


Ted Hughes is a British poet and author, who is mostly noted for his tragic relationship with his first wife, the American poet Sylvia Plath. Hughes served as poet laureate of England from 1984 to 1998.

Ted Hughes was born in Mytholmroyd, England, and educated at the University of Cambridge. While at Cambridge he met Sylvia Plath. They ultimately got married in 1956. Unfortunately Hughes left his wife in 1963, and Plath committed suicide in the same year. Many scholars still believe that Hughes was responsible for Plath’s untimely and pathetic demise.

Hughes’s first significant publication was The Hawk in the Rain (1957). His other works include Lupercal (1960), Wodwo (1967), Crow (1970), Selected Poems: 1957-1967 (1972), Season Songs (1976), and Moortown (1979). Hughes also wrote children's plays, poems, and stories, including the poems Under the North Star (1981) and What is the Truth? (1984). Winter Pollen: Occasional Prose (1995) is a collection of reviews, prefaces, and critical essays. Hughes published Birthday Letters in 1998, which comprised 88 poems either about Plath or focusing on their relationship.

Ted Hughes Fast Facts

Birth Name: Edward James Hughes
Date of Birth: August 17, 1930
Date of Death: October 28, 1998
Place of Birth: Mythomroyd, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Place of Death: London, England
Cause of Death: Heart attack
Zodiac Sign: Leo
Nationality: British
Ethnicity: White
Father: William Henry
Mother: Edith (née Farrar) Hughes
Siblings:
  • Olwyn Hughes
  • Gerald Hughes
Spouse (s):
  • Sylvia Plath (m. 1956; d. 1963)
  • Carol Orchard (m. 1970)
Children:
  • Frieda Hughes (b. 1960)
  • Nicholas Hughes (1962 –2009)
  • Alexandra Wevill
Partner: Assia Wevill (1962–1969)
Education: University of Cambridge
Notable awards:
  • Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
  • Costa Book of the Year
  • Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, US & Canada               

Ted Hughes Quotes

“The only calibration that counts is how much heart people invest, how much they ignore their fears of being hurt or caught out or humiliated. And the only thing people regret is that they didn't live boldly enough, that they didn't invest enough heart, didn't love enough. Nothing else really counts at all.”
― Ted Hughes, Letters of Ted Hughes

“Nothing is free. Everything has to be paid for. For every profit in one thing, payment in some other thing. For every life, a death. Even your music, of which we have heard so much, that had to be paid for. Your wife was the payment for your music. Hell is now satisfied.”
― Ted Hughes, The Tiger's Bones

“Nobody wanted your dance,
Nobody wanted your strange glitter, your floundering
Drowning life and your effort to save yourself,
Treading water, dancing the dark turmoil,
Looking for something to give.”
― Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters

Ted Hughes Media Gallery

Ted Hughes

Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath

Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath

Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath

Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath

Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath

Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath

Ted Hughes and his second wife Carol Orchard

Ted Hughes with his daughter and partner Assia Wevill

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