Hughes, Ted (Edward James) (1930–1998)

English poet. His work is characterized by its harsh portrayal of the crueller aspects of nature, by its reflection of the agonies of personal experience, and by the employment of myths of creation and being, as in Crow (1970) and Gaudete (1977). His free-verse renderings, Tales from Ovid won the 1997 Whitbread Book of the Year Award, and his collection Birthday Letters was awarded the 1998 Forward Prize and the 1998 Whitbread Book of the Year Award. His collections include The Hawk in the Rain (1957), Lupercal (1960), Wodwo (1967), Wolfwatching (1989), and Winter Pollen: Occasional Prose (1994). His novels for children include The Iron Man (1968). He was the poet laureate from 1984 until his death, and was awarded the Order of Merit in 1998.

Hughes was born in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, and educated at Cambridge University. He worked in various jobs as a gardener, security guard, film reader, and teacher. Birthday Letters (1998) is a collection of poems written at various times, following the course of his seven-year marriage to the US poet Sylvia Plath.