New Selected Poems

by Ted Hughes

Book Overview

This volume replaced Ted Hughes's Selected Poems 1957-1981. It contains a larger selection from the same period, to which are added poems from more recent books, uncollected poems from each decade of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060909250
• ISBN13: 9780060909253
• Release Date: January 1982
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

An Abundance of Metaphoric Perception

This 1994 volume contains selections from the following collections: The Hawk in the Rain 1957, Lupercal 1960, Wodwo 1967, Crow 1970, Cave Birds 1975 Season Songs 1976 Caudette 1977 Remains of Elmet 1979 Moortown Diary 1989 It also contains poems from a large number of uncollected poems. It has no critical introduction and we are not even told who made the selection. Thus it is most likely that it was Hughes himself who did this. These poems are rich in metaphor, and violent dramatic description of the natural world, of animal life. The world of human relationships is secondary to them. And for me Hughes most moving poetry will come after this in 'Birthday Letters'. This work has powerful passion and feeling and I believe is really made for those who feel close to the worlds that Hughes' imagination inhabits.

dark, beautiful, brilliant

I'm a poetry scanner. I pick up poetry books and randomly read the odd line here and there to ascertain whether or not I like the general style of the poet. If I do, I'll usually buy the book. I discovered the genius of Ted Hughes (who I expected to dislike because I'd never liked Sylvia Plath) at a market stall. His work absolutely blew me away. My other favourite poets are ee cummings, TS Eliot and John Milton - I'm not sure if that's relevant, but it might put my tastes a little more into context. Hughes has a remarkable gift for language and dark descriptive insight, disturbing and gorgeous turns of phrase and perfect timing. I keep a self-collated quote book, and excerpts from his poetry are now the most commonly occurring entries. It's always very difficult to describe what makes certain poetry great, so I'll just give some examples of lines I think are magnificent..."The bright mirror I braved: the devil in itLoved me like my soul, my soul.Now that I seek myself in a serpentMy smile is fatal."(I like it dark, sublime and metaphoric, whether it be poetry, music, art or whatever)My favourite modern poet, and he died just one year after I discovered he existed. My timing is abysmal. But his poetry is quite the opposite. Immerse...