Ted Hughes’s Biography and works

Edward James “Ted” Hughes was an English poet, translator, and children’s writer. One of the twentieth century’s greatest writers. Critics also rank him as one of the best poets of his generation

Table of Contents

• LIFE AND WORKS
• SCHOOL AND CHILDHOOD
• LOVE LIFE AND LIFE AFTER GRADUATION
• AWARDED
• POETRY COLLECTION
• RADIO PLAYS

LIFE AND WORKS

• Ted Hughes’s full name was Edward James Hughes
• He was born on 17 August 1930 in Yorkshire, England and died on 28 October 1998 in London, England at the age of 68
• His father’s name was William Henry, who was a carpenter and his mother’s name was Edith Hughes, who was a tailor

SCHOOL AND CHILDHOOD

1. Hughes got admitted to ‘BURNLEY ROAD SCHOOL’ and studied there till he was seven and then he got admitted to ‘SCHOFIELD STREET JUNIOR SCHOOL’ after his family shifted to Mexborough
2. After shifting to Mexborough, Hughes as a boy used to spend most of his time in fishing, hunting and studying about animals
3. After shifting to Mexborough, Hughes ’parents had opened a tobacconist’s shop and also worked as a newsagent
4. Hughes also attended, ‘MEXBOROUGH GRAMMER SCHOOL’ where his teachers found it out that, Hughes had an interest in writing, so they encouraged him to write poetry and Hughes published his first poem “WILD WEST” in 1946 in his school magazine
5. Also, Hughes’teachers, Miss McLeod and Pauline introduced him to the great poets like Gerard Manley Hopkins and T.S. Eliot to encourage him and to learn from them

LOVE LIFE AND LIFE AFTER GRADUATION

• After graduating from school, Ted won a scholarship to Pembroke College, Cambridge but instead of joining it, he joined ‘ROYAL AIR FORCE’ in 1949 and become a ground wireless mechanic
• In 1951, he started college and took English as his major subject, as Hughes was crazy about Shakespeare Literature but during his last year, he changed his major subject to Anthropology and Archaeology
• He had also worked as a night watchman, a zoo attendant, a gardener, a reader at a film company and also as a teacher from 1955 to 1956, but couldn’t get success at any of it
• Hughes met Sylvia, his wife at Cambridge during his college life and they both fell in love and got hitched in 1956 at the age of 30
• Sylvia also became a great poet at that time and always encouraged her husband (Hughes) in his every work
• Hughes got into an extramarital affair with a girl, Assia Wevill, then Sylvia came to know about it and got divorced Hughes in 1902
• Sylvia committed suicide by opening the gas stove and died due to suffocation as she can’t bear the pain of his husband’s (Hughes) cheating 
• In 1963, Assia Wevill also committed suicide in the same way
• Hughes got married for the second time to a nurse name, Carol Orchard in August 1970 who was 20 years younger than Hughes and they stayed together until dead

AWARDED

• $5000, for his first book “THE HAWK IN THE RAIN” in 1959
• Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 1985, for “WHAT IS THE TRUTH”
• He got, the Forwarded Poetry Prize, T.S. Eliot Prize and Whitbread Poetry and Whitbread British Book of the Year Prize for his “BIRTHDAY LETTERS”

POETRY COLLECTION

• 1957: THE HAWK IN THE RAIN
• 1960: LUPERCAL
• 1986: FLOWERS AND INSECTS
• 1997: TALES FROM 0VID
• 1998: BIRTHDAY LETTERS

RADIO PLAYS

• THE HOUSE OF ARIES; BROADCAST IN 1960
• THE HOUSEFUL OF WOMEN; BROADCAST IN 1961
• DIFFICULTIES OF BRIDEGROOM; BROADCAST IN 1963
• HOUSE OF DONKEY; BROADCAST IN 1965
• THE HEAD OF GOLD; BROADCAST IN 1967