Ted Hughes' art of healing

Abstract

The main concern of this book is Ted Hughes' conception of poetry as a healing device. This study is geared towards interpretatively unveiling this healing quality in Hughes' poetic work and of evaluating the poet's notion of its significance for human civilisation. Hughes is first of all viewed as a member of the immediate post-war generation and this serves as a platform from which to investigate Hughes' relationship with literary tradition. From this stems a discussion dealing with Hughes' refusal to comply with the prosaic poetic mode of the Movement poets and his willingness to work with those elements that were somewhat disregarded by the Movement. This study attempts to demonstrate how Hughes' vision is that of a cultural critic who perceives himself and his poetic talent as possessing a redemptive function. It attempts to trace the evolution of this mystical vision from its initial heavy concern with violence as a manifestation of the energy lacking in human beings to its ultimate celebration of human unity with 'the bigger energy, the elemental power circuit of the Universe'.