Revisited my two favourite Ted Hughes poetry collections recently—Crow and Tales from Ovid… I think his poetic powers lie in making familiar words feel like viscera. An example might be “purpled dark” or “bedrock atom”. He makes poetic constructions feel like kennings that ring like well-forged metal…
>>25226684I told my friend she'd never even hear about Sylvia if it wasn't for him walking out on her. One of the most important people of 20th century lit.
Prometheus on his cragDreamed he had burst the sun's massAnd emerged mortal. He raised his earth-soaked headLike a new-born calf. A skirl of cold airJoggled the flowers.And the exploded heavens peeled awayInto a mess of glare - the star-head rivetsThe hook-faced majesties of reveleationWrithed maelstrom-molten blackInto the heart's jarThat clapped again shutOn grasshopper silence.He had resolved GodAs a cow swallows its afterbirth.
