2007-11-19 I'M SO GLAD I BOUGHT THIS...

This is an excellently edited collection of Ted Hughes' letters,and I'm very glad that I bought it.
The letters are not written by a man who knew that they would be published, as some letters by famous people are. They are the ordinary letters, some business, some friendly, some loving, that a man who happened to be a brilliant poet wrote to others.

Nobody reading these letters could ever deny that he was an excellent father to Frieda and Nicholas, his and Sylvia Plath's children, and then there is his mention of Shura, his and Assia Wevill's little girl, with the words ' I have two nice children who make life a great pleasure....I had a third, a little marvel, but she died with her mother.'
As the previous reviewer said, quite correctly, this is not a book for voyeurs but knowing Hughes' story makes one cry out with pain at the understated longing in his words here.

His letters to his daughter, Frieda, are a joy to read because of his playful, loving tone and his hours of attention to her writing - and the advice which he gives is extremely useful to any would-be writer.

There are clear photos and - a great pleasure to see - sketches which Hughes included in many of his letters.
His last letter, written to his aunt Hilda nine days before his death, has a clear sketch of the Order of Merit medal he received from the Queen and a very happy description of the ceremony.

The impression of Hughes is of a sensitive man, knowledgeable about classical music, art, poetry (of course) and writing, but also about farming and fishing.
It is very moving to be reading the letters of this big strong man, brought low by the deaths of people he loved - when his father died in 1981, Hughes wrote 'I saw Dad's dead body 18 years to the day on which I saw Sylvia's....
since my usual technique of pressing on regardless was really no good, this time I'm going to do nothing at all for a while... I thought I was quite prepared, having watched him decline for so long...but in fact it gave me the shock of my life. Just that sight of him.'

Ted Hughes was an intensely private man, so there is no written proof of his feelings about the relationships which ended so tragically , except glimpses in his letters and in his collection of poetry 'Birthday Letters' but the love for Carol, his wife who has survived him and for his two children, and the occasional brief flash in his writings of the pain which he had to bear, make him very real to us.

The collecting and editing of this huge book together with the photos and index must have been a difficult task for Christopher Reid,but for us, it is well worth the time and trouble because it pays respect to one of the greatest English poets we shall ever know.