Collected Poems
Hughes's Crow (1970), a mythological trickster sequence, is among the most violent and vital collections in English: creation mythology rewritten with black humor and animal ferocity. Birthday Letters (1998), his 88-poem account of his marriage to Sylvia Plath, broke a 35-year silence and became an instant bestseller. Between those poles lies a body of work (Lupercal, Wodwo, Remains of Elmet) that takes animal life as seriously as human. Forward Prize 1999.
Thirteen hundred pages, duds included; Poet Laureate verse for royal occasions sits in the same binding as Crow. Hughes has one master register, predation, and the mythic blood-and-talon worldview turns monotonous across a full career. Birthday Letters doubles as a defense brief in the matter of Sylvia Plath; admire the poems, but notice who controls the narrative.
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
