The Successful Career of Ted Hughes

Ted Hughes is a very successful author. There are many things that would allow you to come to this conclusion. Throughout his life, many things happened which helped contribute to his workings. Throughout his career he showed imagery, characterization, mystery, and irony techniques in his books and poems.

The life of Ted Hughes contributed to many of his works. He is often referred to as one of greatest English authors in the twentieth century. He was born on August 17th, 1930 in Yorkshire. His family had moved to Mexborough when he was only seven to run a newspaper and tobacco shop. He attended the Mexborough grammar school, and wrote his first poems from the age of fifteen, some of which made their way into the school magazine. Before beginning English studies at Cambridge University (having won a scholarship in 1948), he spent much of his National service time reading and rereading all of Shakespeare. According to report, he could recite it all by heart (Ted 4). While at Cambridge, he switched his major from English to Archaeology and Anthropology in his third year. He published his first book of poems In his last year at Cambridge, 1954. He used two aliases for his early publications, Daniel Hearing and Peter Crew. From 1955 to 1956, he worked as a rose gardener, night-watchman, zoo attendant, school teacher, and reader for J. Arthur Rank, and planned to teach in Spain then move to Australia (Life 3). On February 26, there was a launch of the literary magazine, the St Botolph's Review, for which Hughes was one of six co-producers. That very same day he also met Sylvia Plath, his soon to be wife. Hughes is what some have called a nature poet. Ever since he was younger, he had been a hunter and countryman. Some believe this to ...

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...n at the end. There may however, be a double themed short story. It is possible that Hughes is trying to tell us not to forget in our family/past life. We can infer this from the “dark horse” pushing you back to where you came from.

Works Cited

Hughes, Ted. “The Rain Horse.” Prentice Hall Literature: The British Tradition. Boston: Pearson Education, 2007. 1239-46. Print.

Lomas, Herbert. “The Poetry of Ted Hughes.” DISCovering Authors. Detroit: DISCovering Authors, 2003. N. pag. Gale Student Resources in Context. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.

“Overview of Ted James Hughes.” DISCovering Author. Detroit: Gale, 2003. N. pag. Gale Student Resources in Context. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.

Sagar, Keith. “Ted Hughes.” Supplement 1. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 341-66. Print.

Smith, Stan. “Ted Hughes.” DISCovering Authors. Detroit: n.p., 2003. N. pag. Gale Student Resources in Context. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.