Collected Poems for Children

Author: Hughes, Ted

Published by Faber & Faber, 2005

Illustrated by Raymond Briggs

The book collects most of Ted Hughes's poems for children. It contains all poems from The Mermaid's Purse, The Cat and the Cuckoo, Season Songs, Nessie the Mannerless Monster, Meet My Folks, What is the Truth, Under the North Star, and the moon poem collections (The Earth-Owl and Other Moon-People, Earth-Moon and Moon-Whales), as well as a few poems that appeared here and there in other collections. Strangely absent are several poems from the award-winning Moon-Bells.

The book comes with an Index and an Index of First Lines.

Review by Claas Kazzer.

Contents:

Note: I have included some comments in [...] giving alternative titles, etc. — C.K.

THE MERMAID'S PURSE

• Seal
• Gull ['What yanks upward your line of sight —…']
• Gulls Aloft [alt. title: "Gulls": 'Gulls are glanced from the lift …']
• Limpet
• Mussel
• Sea-anemone
• Blenny
• Cormorant
• Pebbles
• Hermit Crab
• Wreck
• Jellyfish
• Crab
• Mermaid
• Ragworm
• Sea Monster
• Whelk
• Lobster
• The Mermaid's Purse
• Shell
• Octopus
• Heron
• Shrimp
• Conger Eel
• Flounder
• Bladderwrack
• Whale
• Sandflea
• Starfish

 

THE CAT AND THE CUCKOO

• Cat
• Toad
• Thrush
• Goat
• Fantails
• Pig
• Mole
• Dog [alt. title: "Roger the Dog" (in What is the Truth]
• Cow
• Squirrel
• Dragonfly
• Robin
• Ram
• Otter
• Crow
• Hen
• Pike
• Sparrow
• The Red Admiral
• Shrew
• Owl
• Stickleback
• Donkey
• Worm
• Hedgehog
• Cuckoo
• Peacock
• Snail

__

• Horrible Song [first collected in Moon-Bells]

 

MEET MY FOLKS!

• 'I've heard so much about other folks' folks …'
• My Sister Jane
• My Fairy Godmother
• My Grandpa
• Grandma
• My Other Granny [alt. title: "My Granny"]
• My Brother Bert
• My Aunt [alt. title: "My Aunt Dora"]
• My Aunt Flo
• My Uncle Dan
• My Uncle Mick
• My Mother
• My Father
• My Own True Family

 

NESSIE THE MANNERLESS MONSTER

• Nessie [poem, first collected in Moon-Bells]
• Nessie the Mannerless Monster

 

MOON WHALES AND OTHER MOON POEMS

• Moon-Whales
• A Moon-Lily
• The Burrow Wolf
• Moon-Mirror
• Moon-Thirst
• Moon-Theatre
• The Moon-Oak
• The Moon-Haggis
• Moon-Wings
• Visiting the Moon
• Moon-Shadow Beggars
• The Earth-Owl
• Moon-Horrors
• Moon-Wind
• Moon-Tulips
• Moon-Nasturtiums
• Moon-Dog-Daisies
• Moon-Roses
• Moon-Hops
• Moon-Heads
• Music on the Moon
• Moon-Ways
• The Snail of the Moon
• Crab-Grass
• Moon-Witches
• The Moon-Hyena
• Mushrooms on the Moon
• The Adaptable Mountain Dugong
• Moon-Cloud Gripe
• Tree-Disease
• Cactus-Sickness
• Moon-Weapons
• Moon-Cabbage
• Moony Art [alt. title: "Moony Art"]
• Moon-Thorns
• Moon-Ravens
• Moon-Marriage
• The Moon-Mourner
• The Dracula Vine
• The Armies of the Moon
• The Silent Eye
• A Moon-Witch
• The Moon-Mare
• Foxgloves
• A Moon Man-Hunt
• Moon Transport [alt. title: "Untitled Poem" (in 1976 ed.)]
• Moon-Freaks
• Moon-Clock
• Moon-Walkers
• Moon-Bells
• A Moon-Hare
• Singing on the Moon
• The Moon-Bull
• Earth-Moon

 

UNDER THE NORTH STAR

• Amulet
• The Loon
• The Wolverine
• The Snowy Owl
• The Black Bear
• An Evening Seal
• The Muskellunge
• A Lynx
• The Snow-Shoe Hare
• Woodpecker
• The Musk-Ox
• The Heron
• The Grizzly Bear [alt. title: "I See a Bear"]
• Brooktrout
• The Wendigo
• The Osprey
• Mooses
• The Arctic Fox
• Puma
• Skunk
• Goose
• Wolf [alt. title: "The Iron Wolf"]
• The Mosquito
• Eagle

__

• Tigress [first collected in Moon-Bells]
• Tiger [first collected in A March Calf]
• A Mountain Lion [first collected in Moon-Bells]
• Live Skull [first collected in A March Calf]
• Off-Days [first collected in Moon-Bells]

 

from WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

• Partridge
• Bess my badger
• Badger
• New Foal
• Cow (I)
• Cow (II)
• Cow (III)
• Shire Horses
• Rat-Psalm
• The Rook
• Rooks
• The Fox is a Jolly Farmer
• The Problem about Lambs
• Sheep (I)
• Sheep (II)
• The Beggarly Bat
• Buzzard
• A Riddle
• Pig
• Swallows (I)
• Swallows (II)
• Swallows (III)
• Swallows (IV)
• Donkey
• Pigeons
• Bees
• Main thing about Badgers
• The Treecreeper
• Weasel (I)
• Mouse
• Mice are funny little creatures
• The Fly
• Flies
• Weasel (II)
• The White-Collared Dove
• The Roustabout Rooster
• Hen
• Goat
• Billy Goat
• Nanny Goat
• Geese
• Two Geese
• The Vixen
• Hunting Song
• Worms
• Weasel (III)
• The Twilight White Owl
• Catching Carp
• The Hedgehog
• The Hare (I)
• The Hare (II)
• The Hare (III)
• The Hare (IV)
• The Hare (V)
• Bullfinch
• Pheasant
• Dog
• Somebody [alt. title: "A Solstice"]
• Lobworms

 

__

• Ants [first collected in Moon-Bells]
• Spider [first collected in The Iron Wolf]

__

SEASON SONGS

Spring

• A March Calf
• The River in March
• March Morning Unlike Others
• He Gets Up in Dark Dawn
• Spring Nature Notes (i-vi)
• A Swallow
• April Birthday
• Icecrust and Snowflake
• Deceptions

 

Summer

• Swifts
• Mackerel Song
• Hay
• Evening Thrush
• Sheep (I-III)
• A Dove
• Apple Dumps
• Work and Play
• Hunting the Summer
• The Harvest Moon
• The Golden Boy

 

Autumn

• Leaves
• The Defenders
• Autumn Nature Notes (I-VIII)
• The Seven Sorrows
• The Stag
• Two Horses (I-V)
• A Cranefly in September
• There Came a Day
• Barley

 

Winter

• Pets
• The Warrior of Winter
• Starlings Have Come
• Christmas Card
• December River
• New Year Song
• Snow and Snow
• The Warm and the Cold

 

__

Very New Foal [orig. appeared in A March Calf]

A Lamb in the Storm [uncollected; init. publ. in Helix, 1979; first collected in Collected Poems]