Edward James Hughes, known as Ted Hughes, was an English poet and children's writer. His most characteristic verse eschews sentimentality, emphasizing the cunning and savagery of animal life in stark, sometimes disjunctive lines. The dialect of his native Yorkshire set the tone for his poetry, and an interest in folklore and anthropology is reflected in his work. Hughes is celebrated for his unflinching engagement with the natural world and human existence, drawing on the raw forces of life.
This anniversary edition celebrates fifty years since the original publication of Crow (1970) - the vital, shape-shifting collectionby Ted Hughes. They are the bones of poems - made of mere lines: rude, surreal, gleeful, desolate poems - which for all their bleakness transmit a flash of hope.
First published in 1984, this book of prose-linked animal poems won both the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the Signal Poetry Award. This new, illustated edition remains 'a very beautiful book: God and his son go to visit mankind and ask a few simple questions . . . the poems are pure enchantment' (The School Librarian).
From the trembling new-born calf in Season Songs to the gently sleeping one recorded in Moortown Diary, animal life as observed in the pages of Flowers and Insects, Elmet, River, Lupercal and Hawk in the Rain is seen afresh through the diversity and imaginative energy of this collected volume.
Animals of air, land and sea are brilliantly imagined in this perfect introduction for young readers to the work of Ted Hughes. Previously unpublished poems appear with selections from Under the North Star and The Cat and the Cuckoo. Part of Hughes's Collected Animal Poems, The Iron Wolf is for the youngest readers, both to listen to and explore themselves. Chris Riddell's delightful line illustrations add to the journey of discovery.
Ted Hughes wrote a series of stories for children from the early 1960s through until 1995 about how the world, and the creatures in it, came into being. Meet the Polar Bear whose obsession with her snowy white fur is so great that she can only live in a landscape surrounded by her own reflection;
A very ordinary boy. Nobody noticed him, he was just like everyone else. But Fred knew he was different. He just didn't know quite how different. And when he did.... Well, what then?
A collection of poems by Ted Hughes and John Agard. At Key Stage 2 Wordsmith gives you 'single voice' collections of poetry. This approach enables children to familiarise themselves with the poets as individuals, learning about their lives and inspirations to help bring their work to life.
A Ted Hughes Bestiary is a selection of some of Ted Hughes's animal poems, chosen by Alice Oswald. 'Cold, delicately as the dark snow. A fox's nose touches twig, leaf.' - The Thought Fox
Some poems will be more of a challenge than others, but all will be treasured once they have become part of the memory bank. This edition is part of a series of anthologies edited by poets such as Don Paterson and Simon Armitage and features an attractive new design to complement an anthology of classic poems.
'Other folks get so well known,And nobody knows about my own,'Have you met my sister Jane? And my other Granny is an octopus... Meet Aunt Flo, Brother Bert and more extraordinary family members in Ted Hughes' irresistible Meet My Folks, his first book for children, illustrated beautifully by George Adamson.