A presentation : Biography of Ted Hughes, an English poet, translator, and children's writer.

1. Ted Hughes
Presented by- Nabiha Mahfuz
Course Code - ENG 327
Section- 03
Presented to- Samirah Tabassum

3. Contents
❖ Biography of Ted Hughes
❖ Significant Works of Ted Hughes
❖ Ted Hughes as a Modernist
❖ Comments on Ted Hughes

4. Biography
❖ Born : Edward James Hughes on 17 August 1930 (Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire, England)
❖ Family : Youngest child of William Henry and Edith (Farrar) Hudges. Bonded closely
with older brother, Gerard.
❖ Loved hunting and fishing, swimming, and picnicking with family.
❖ Captivated by animals, collecting, and drawing toy lead creatures

5. Biography (Contd.)
❖ During Ted’s time at Mexborough Grammar School, where a succession of teachers
encouraged him to write, and develop his interest in poetry.
❖ Later on, moved to Cambridge to attend Pembroke College on an academic scholarship.
❖ Graduated from Cambridge at 1954. Met Sylvia Plath (American poet, novelist, and
short-story writer) there and got married few short months later, on June 16, 1956. Had
two children, Freida and Nicholas.

7. Biography (Contd.)
❖ In 1963, due to Ted’s infidelity, Plath committed suicide.
❖ In 1965, Ted’s Mistress, Assia Gutmann Wevill gave birth to their child. However,
four years later, similar to Plath , she also committed suicide.
❖ In 1970, Hughes married Carol Orchard, with whom he remained married until his
death.
❖ Death : October 28, 1998, Devonshire, England, from cancer
❖ Ted died an English poet, translator, and children's writer.

9. Ted’s Significant Works
❖ The Hawk in the Rain (1957) -first published book of poems
❖ Pike (1959)
❖ Lupercal (1960)
❖ The Howling of Wolves (1966) & Songs of a Rat (1966)
❖ The Life and Songs of the Crow (1966)
❖ The Iron Man (1968)
❖ Recklings (1966) & Wodwo (1967) -published several times in magazines
❖ Wolfwatching (1990)
❖ Birthday Letters (1998) - documented his relationship with Plath

10. Ted Hughes as a modernist
“Pike, three inches long, perfect
Pike in all parts, green tigering the gold.
Killers from the egg: the malevolent aged grin.
They dance on the surface among the flies”
- Taken from “Pike”
❖ Describing pike’s size ‘three inches long’
❖ Uses metaphor, ‘tigering the gold’ to describe the colour of the fish which also
refers to tiger’s mightiness.
❖ ‘Killers from the egg’ refers to its destructive nature.

11. Comment on Hughes
Though Hughes is now recognized as one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, his
reputation as a poet during his lifetime was perhaps unfairly framed by two events: the
suicide of Plath in 1963, and, in 1969, the suicide of the woman he left Plath for, Assia. If
these two events didn't take place, I think he would have been more acclaimed.

12. References
● Alb, Miz. “Pike by Ted Hughes.” Poem Analysis, Poem Analysis, 11 June 2020,
poemanalysis.com/ted-hughes/pike/. Accessed 16 Aug. 2022.
● Wikipedia Contributors. “Ted Hughes.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Aug. 2022,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Hughes. Accessed 16 Aug. 2022.
● “Ted Hughes | Poetry Foundation.” Poetry Foundation, 2020, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ted-
hughes. Accessed 16 Aug. 2022.
● American. “About Ted Hughes | Academy of American Poets.” Poets.org, 2014, poets.org/poet/ted-
hughes. Accessed 16 Aug. 2022.
● “Ted Hughes.” Prezi.com, 2019, prezi.com/eajmze1okaoc/ted-hughes/. Accessed 17 Aug. 2022.