The following pages collect information on criticism of Ted Hughes's work, including critical publications, online essays and information on conferences.
As with the other sections, web site building is still ongoing, so please bear with me.
Below you will find a chronological list of critical publications (newest publications first). For separate listings with essays and book publications only, please use the menu on the left.
"Adam and the Sacred Nine: A Cabbalistic Drama"
Author: Skea, Ann
Published on Ann Skea's website ann.skea.com, 21 July 2010 [more]
"'Family relations' – Traces of a cosmology in Ted Hughes's Creation Tales"
Author: Kazzer, Claas
Published online at www.earth-moon.org, July 2010 [more]
"The Oedipus Myth in Ted Hughes's Crow"
Author: Pollard, Sophie
Published online at www.earth-moon.org, 2010 [more]
"Ted Hughes and 'A Separate Little Self'"
Author: Elkin, Roger
Published online at www.earth-moon.org, 2010 [more]
The Elegies of Ted Hughes
Author: Hadley, Edward
Published by Palgrave and Macmillan, 2010 [more]
Ted Hughes and Nature: 'Terror and Exultation'
Author: Sagar, Keith
Published by Fastprint Publishing, 2010
not seen [more]
"Occult Energies"
Author: Skea, Ann
Published on the Translation Café website revista.mttlc.ro/94, 10 February 2010 [more]
"The Making of Birthday Letters"
Author: Davids, Roy
Published online at www.earth-moon.org, 2009
[more]
"Hidden Influences in the Poetry of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath"
Author: Elkin, Roger
Published online at www.earth-moon.org, 2009 [more]
Ted Hughes (Routledge Guides to Literature)
Author: Gifford, Terry
Published by Routledge, 2009
not seen
"Ted Hughes as an Elegist: The Vegetation Deity and Fertility Rites in 'Lupercalia'"
Author: Hadley, Edward
Published on www.earth-moon.org, 2008 [more]
"Ted Hughes and 'The Zodiac in the Shape of a Crown'"
Author: Skea, Ann
Published at ann.skea.com, 2008
Ted Hughes. A Literary Life
Author: Roberts, Neil
Published by Macmillan, 2006 (paperback 2009) [more]
Fixed Stars Govern a Life: Transforming Poetics and Memory with Emory's Ted Hughes Archive
Author: Schuchard, Ronald (ed.)
Emory internal publication, Emory Across Academe, No. 6,
Emory University 2006.
[more]
"Howls & Whispers: The Averse Sephiroth and the Spheres of the Qlippoth. An analysis of Ted Hughes' use of Cabbala in Howls & Whispers"
Author: Skea, Ann
On-line publication since 2005. [more]
Birthday Letters: Poetry and Magic. An analysis of Ted Hughes' use of Tarot and Cabbala in Birthday Letters
Author: Skea, Ann
Ongoing on-line publication since 2000; completed 2005 [more]
"'Creatures of Light'"
Author: Skea, Ann
Paper presented at Emory University in 2005, online at ann.skea.com
Ted Hughes: Alternative Horizons
Author: Moulin, Joanny (ed.)
Published by Routledge, 2004 [more]
Her Husband: Hughes and Plath: A Marriage
Author: Middlebrook, Diane
Published by Viking Adult, 2003 (paperback: Penguin 2004)
"Ted Hughes's Tabletalk - a Counterblast"
Author: Davids, Roy
Published online at www.roydavids.com
Ted Hughes: A Beginner's Guide
Author: Bell, Charlie
Published by Hodder & Stoughton, 2002 [more]
"Ted Hughes (1930-1998): Before and Since"
Author: Moulin, Joanny
Published in EJES (European Journal of English Studies) April 2002
"Archives"
Author: Davids, Roy
Published in The Author and online at www.roydavids.com, 2002 [more]
Ted Hughes: The Life of a Poet
Author: Feinstein, Elaine
Published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2001 [more]
The Other Sylvia Plath
Author: Brain, Tracy
Published by Longman, 2001 [more]
Interview with Fay Godwin on Remains of Elmet and Elmet
Author: Gifford, Terry
Published in Thumbscrew, No 18, Spring 2001, pp. 114–117
"Ted Hughes and Myths for Kiddies"
Author: Moulin, Joanny
Published in Can Poetry Make Anything Happen? La poésie dans l'enseignement de l'anglais, Eds. Helen Goethals & Adolphe HABERER, Lyon: Presses Universitaires de ...
"Nachwort: Wie Dichtung entsteht."
Author: Kazzer, Claas
Published in Ted Hughes: Wie Dichtung Entsteht Essays. Insel/Suhrkamp, 2001 [more]
Crow Steered / Bergs Appeared: Additional Notes and Minor Corrections.
Author: Myers, Lucas
Published on www.earth-moon.org, 2001 [more]
Crow Steered / Bergs Appeared. A Memoir of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath
Author: Myers, Lucas
Published by Proctor's Hall Press, 2001 [more]
Ariel's Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, and the Story of Birthday Letters
Author: Wagner, Erica
Published by W. W. Norton & Company, 2000
[more]
The Laughter of Foxes. A Study of Ted Hughes
Author: Sagar, Keith
Published by Liverpool University Press, 2000
2nd revised edition 2007 [more]
"Poetry and Magic 2: Howls & Whispers"
Author: Skea, Ann
On-line book published on ann.skea.com since 2000
"Hughes with Shakespeare, or the Night of the Tragic Equation"
Author: Moulin, Joanny
Published in La nuit chez Shakespeare & ses contemporains: l'invisible présence, Ed. Simone Kadi, Presses Universitaires de Valenceinnes, 2000, 295-303
"Das Gedächtnis"
Author: Kaußen, Wolfgang
Published in Insel Almanach auf das Jahr 2000. Gedanken zum 20. Jahrhundert. Insel Verlag, 1999 [more]
"Poetry and Magic 3: Capriccio"
Author: Skea, Ann
On-line book published on ann.skea.com since 2000
"Poetry and Magic 1: Birthday Letters"
Author: Skea, Ann
On-line book published on ann.skea.com since 2000
"Alcestis"
Author: Sagar, Keith
Published on www.earth-moon.org, 2000;
Introductory Talk on Alcestis for the Performance at the Lowry in Salford, by Northern Broadsides. [more]
"Mapping the Misreadings: Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, and Nationhood."
Author: Ingelbien, Raphaël
Published in Contemporary Literature, 40.4 (Winter 1999): 627-58
Lire Ted Hughes: New Selected Poems 1957-1994
Author: Moulin, Joanny (ed.)
Published by Editions du Temps, 1999 [more]
Ted Hughes Conference at Cambridge, 15-18 Sept. 2010. Here's a 
list of speakers and talks. For more, please see the 
conference website.
I've just noticed that Ann Skea's essay "Occult Energies" is now available online. [more]
Ann Skea has uploaded all parts of her essay on Ted Hughes's "Adam and the Sacred Nine" to her... [more]
Sophie Pollard has submitted a new essay titled "The Oedipus Myth in Ted Hughes's Crow". [more]
Ted Hughes Archive now open at the British Library [more]
Ann Skea has published a new essay on Ted Hughes's "Adam and the Sacred Nine" on her website. [more]
There is a new essay online which I wrote for the Ted Hughes conference at Emory University in... [more]
Registration for the conference on literary archives at Exeter University, 2-3 October 2010, and a... [more]
Roger Elkin submitted a new essay for publication on this site! It is called "Ted Hughes and 'A... [more]
Exeter University will host a conference in October which is based around literary archives. [more]
Register now online! [more]
Podcast with Ehor Boyanowsky about "Savage Gods, Silver Ghosts" and his relationship with Ted... [more]
New issue of the Ted Hughes Archive Blog online [more]
Roy Davids has submitted the essay "The Making of Birthday Letters" [more]
Noel Chanan has published a DVD with a discussion between Ted Hughes and Leonard Baskin [more]
New issue of the Ted Hughes Archive Blog online [more]
Ann Skea has published a new Ted Hughes transcript on her website. [more]
New issue of the Ted Hughes Archive Blog online [more]
Roger Elkin submitted a new essay for publication on this site! It is called "Hidden Influences in... [more]
New issue of the Ted Hughes Archive Blog online [more]
Poet Carol Ann Duffy has set up the "Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry" which will honour the... [more]
The Guardian runs a story about the 'lost' children's poem "Timmy the Tug" from the 1950s. [more]
There is an article about Andrew Motion's Ted Hughes Memorial Lecture online [more]