During the end of his marriage Hughes had an affair with Assia Wevill, who killed herself and their child in 1969. For they will have their rights. Their jurors are to be assembled
From the little crumbs of soot. Their brief
Goes straight up heaven and nothing more is heard of it. (from 'Her Husband')
In 1969 Hughes's adaptation of Seneca's Oedipus was produced at the National Theatre. In 1970 he was one of the founders of the Arvon Foundation. When he was 40, Hughes produced perhaps his most famous work, CROW (1970), a series of story-poems. The protagonist - Crow - is an embodiment of vitality that challenges the supremacy of Death. In 1971 Hughes travelled to Iran where he wrote the verse drama ORGHAST for the director Peter Brook. In 1977 he was awarded an OBE and in 1984 he was appointed poet Laureate at the age of 54. In POETRY IN THE MAKING (1970) Hughes stated that there is no ideal form of poetry or writing. His poetry ranged from free verse to highly structured forms and rhyme schemes. Although he wrote for young adults a wide variety of finely illustrated poems, plays and prose, he did not soften his themes of life and death with sentimentality. The element of death is a part of the cycles of nature as in 'There Came a Day' but not without a sudden humor. There came a day that caught the summer
Wrung its neck
Plucked it
And ate it. Hughes's study of Sylvia Plath's life, BIRTHDAY LETTERS, appeared in 1998 and became an immediate bestseller. He received all the major literary awards in Europe, but not the Nobel Prize. He also received the Order of Merit. Hughes died of cancer on October 28, 1998
For further reading: Eight Contemporary Poets by C. Bedient (1974); The Art of Ted Hughes by K. Sagar (1978); Ted Hughes: The Unaccommodated Universe by E. Faas (1980); Ted Hughes: A Critical Study by T. Gifford and N. Roberts (1981); Sylvia Plath: Journals 1950-62, foreword by Ted Hughes (1982); The Silent Woman by Janet Malcolm (1994) - Suomeksi Hughesin runoja on julkaistu antologiassa Maailman runosydän, toim. Hannu Tarmio ja Janne Tarmio (1998) - Note: Andrew Motion followed Ted Hughes as Britain's poet laureate.
SELECTED WORKS:
· THE HAWK IN THE RAIN, 1957
· PIKE, 1959
· THE HOUSE OF ARIES, 1960
· LUPERCAL, 1960
· MEET MY FOLKS! 1961 (rev.