The Poetry of Ted Hughes

This is the first full length study to place Hughes's poetry in the context of significant developments in literary theory that occured during his life, drawing in particular on the 'French theorists': Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva, and Roland Barthes. The study sheds new light on Hughes's prosody, and on such matters as Hughes's relationship to the 'Movement' poets, the influence of Sylvia Plath, his relation to Romanticism, his interest in myth and shamanism, and the implications of the Laureateship for his work. The poems are presented in chronological order, tracing the development of Hughes's highly distinctive style.