REVIEW: Ted Hughes: A Literary Life by Ted Hughes
Ann`Skea
AUTHOR: Neil Roberts
PUBLISHER: Macmillan (Nov. 2006)
ISBN: 1-4039-3605-6 PRICE: £45.00 (hardback) 245 pages
Reviewed by Ann Skea (a...@skea.com).
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" As a young man, Ted Hughes must have seemed blessed. He was extravagantly
gifted, as his juvenile poetry shows, and was warmly encouraged by his family
and teachers. From a socially and economically modest background in Yorkshire,
he won a place at Cambridge, despite performing poorly in his entrance exam:
his teacher persuaded the college to accept him because of his talent as a
writer".
Such was the beginning of a writing life which eventually led to Ted Hughes
being offered the most prestigious position for any poet in Britain, that of
Poet Laureate. This was a position he occupied for fourteen years until his
death in 1998.
What made him such an honoured poet? And how did he overcome the huge personal
traumas of the death of Sylvia Plath, and of Assia Wevill and her daughter
Shura, and the resulting notoriety and animosity which dogged him for the rest
of his life?
Neil Roberts's book, Ted Hughes: A Literary Life, does, to a large extent,
answer these questions. But this book is not a biography, although Roberts has
consulted biographies as well as many of Hughes's very personal letters to
family and close friends. He includes a chapter on Hughes's poetic
collaboration with Sylvia Plath and the influence of her work on his; and he
bravely wades into the "Plath Wars", looks at many of the accusations made
against Hughes, and presents an admirably informed and balanced view of their
validity. Undoubtedly, there will be Plath followers who do not agree with
him, but many of them are not inclined to agree with any favourable or
balanced view of Ted Hughes.
Nor is Roberts's book a hagiography. Roberts offers a critical appraisal of
most of Ted Hughes's work based on his own close reading over it over many
years and on meticulous research amongst the many texts and manuscripts
currently available.
Mostly, this book is an attempt to show how Ted Hughes's work was shaped by
his experiences, especially those of his earliest years, and how a core of
deeply held beliefs was consistently expressed by and in his poetry. It
presents a well supported argument for Roberts's belief that "Nothing Hughes
wrote which was not to some degree a report of his inner life had any value
for him". All of which is consistent with the requirements of this series of
books commissioned by Palgrave Macmillan to cover the lives and careers of
"admired and influential English-language authors", and trace "the
professional, publishing and social contexts" which shaped their writing.
An overview of the book can be found by reading the chapter headings on the
publishers' web-pages at
<http://www.palgrave.com/newsearch/Catalogue.aspx?is=1403936056>. There is a
sample chapter also linked to this page which gives a good idea of Roberts's
interesting, clear and lively approach to his subject.
Not everyone will agree with Roberts's interpretation of Hughes's views or
with his analysis of the poems. And Roberts himself quotes Hughes's own words
in a letter to Keith Sagar: "Finally, poems belong to readers, just as houses
belong to those who live in them & not to the builders", by which Hughes
implied that just as we furnish our houses according to our own taste, so our
interpretation of a poem is a reflection of our individual response to it.
Nevertheless, Roberts is an acute and sensitive observer of the language and
rhythm of Hughes's poetry, and his discussion of many of the poems and most of
the poetic sequences is perceptive and interesting.
In essence, this book is valuable background reading for any discussion of Ted
Hughes's life and work and it invites a response from readers. Some (like
Keith Sagar and myself) who are especially interested in Hughes's work, will
respond by carrying on discussions with Roberts over certain points and taking
issue with him over others. I, for example regret that Roberts has not
considered my own detailed analysis of Birthday Letters and Howls & Whispers.
It would, perhaps, have resolved some of the issues he raises about these
sequences of poems. It is a pity that many academics (unlike their students)
still regard Internet publication with suspicion and feel that they can
justifiably ignore it. This is not necessarily true of Neil Roberts, who now
says that he should have included my work on these sequences his discussion,
and who does refer to other items on my web-pages in his book. Nor is it true
amongst scientists, who have long accepted on-line publication in moderated
journals as a very important way of presenting new discoveries and theories
for debate and confirmation.
This aside, I mostly agree with Roberts's interpretation of Hughes's life and
work, especially with his description of Hughes as a shamanic poet who, like
Shakespeare, Blake, Yeats and Eliot, consistently drew for inspiration on his
inner world. He mentions Hughes's use of memory and visualization, his concern
about ecological issues, and he traces the shamanic pattern of some of
Hughes's work. It is a pity then, that like others who have discussed Hughes's
interest in shamanism, he does not follow this through and see that Hughes's
purpose was not just self-healing but, through the shaping, structure and
especially the publication of his work, an intentional channelling of healing
imaginative energies into a society which sorely needs them. Hughes's very
serious interest in the ancient occult, spiritual practices which were
actively used by Renaissance poets was also part of this shamanic purpose and
it, too, shaped his life and work.
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Copyright © Ann Skea 2006
Ann Skea
Website and Ted Hughes pages: http://ann.skea.com/