The Cambridge Companion to Ted Hughes

Description

Ted Hughes is unquestionably one of the major twentieth-century English poets. Radical and challenging, each new title produced something of a shock to British literary culture. Only now is the breadth of his literary range and cultural influence being recognised. As well as his poetry and stories, writing for children, translations and prose essays and reviews, in recent years Hughes's own letters have received great critical attention. This Companion consolidates Hughes's life, writings and reputation. International experts from a variety of literary fields here confront the key questions posed by Hughes's work. New archival evidence is provided for fresh readings of his oeuvre with close attention to language, forms and the function of myth. Featuring a chronology and guide to further reading, this book is a valuable and insightful companion for those studying and reading Hughes in the context of his role in the development of modern poetry.

Terry Gifford is an ecocritic and poet, the author of Ted Hughes (Routledge, 2009), Reconnecting With John Muir: Essays in Post-Pastoral Practice (University of Georgia Press, 2006), Pastoral (Routledge, 1999) and Green Voices: Understanding Contemporary Nature Poetry (Manchester University Press, 1995; second edition CCC Press, 2011), together with six chapters in books on Ted Hughes. His seventh collection of poems is (with Christopher North) Al Otro Lado del Aguilar (Oversteps Books, 2011). Author of The Joy of Climbing (Whittles, 2004), he is also a trustee of the UK's Mountain Heritage Trust.

' ... offers intelligent and vital criticism on a writer whose reputation has flourished since his death over a decade ago. it [is] likely to be an essential aid for students and scholars of Hughes's writings, and one which will become the new touchstone in Hughes as the interest in his writings proliferates and becomes increasingly diverse.' The Ted Hughes Society Journal