Edward James Hughes, more commonly known as Ted Hughes, was born on August 17, 1930 in West Yorkshire, England. He had both an older brother, Gerald, and an older sister, Olwyn. When he was seven, his family began operating a newsagents and tobacco shop following a move to South Yorkshire. For his entire life, Hughes had a great affinity for the stark and somewhat desolate landscape surrounding his childhood home in West Yorkshire.
Hughes attended Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he started to take classes in English in attempts to improve his writing. However, he found that these classes restricted his writing more than they improved it; consequently, Hughes changed his course of studies to anthropology and archaeology. During his time at Pembroke College, Hughes and some other students created a journal entitled St. Botolph’s Review. It was in this journal that Hughes’ first published work appeared. While at a party initiating the journal, Hughes met Sylvia Plath, an American poet; Hughes and Plath married four months later on June 16, 1956.
Hughes’ first collection of poetry, The Hawk in the Rain, was published in 1957, and includes his poem Wind. He continued publishing poems, collections, and books until his death. Hughes is known for focusing his poetry around nature and natural occurrences, probably due to his appreciation of the landscape in West Yorkshire. Hughes incorporates this natural theme in "Wind" when he describes a forceful gale.
Sylvia Plath committed suicide in 1963 after suffering severe emotional struggles. After her death, Hughes encountered accusations of murder as well as other derrogatory remarks from Plath's feminist readers. Hughes finally publicized the details of his marriage to and relationship with Plath in the poetry collection Birthday Letters, which was published in 1998. This collection stifled many of the accusations and comments regarding Plath's death.
He was named British poet laureate in December, 1984. Despite his talent, many friends and critics were surprised about this appointment due to the amount of skill required to fully understand most of his poetry, as well as the descriptions of him being a "poet of blood and violence" (Skea). Regardless of the initial surprise at his appointment, Hughes is still a revered writer in England. Hughes is well known for his most famous children's story, "The Iron Giant," which was later adapted into an animated film.
Ted Hughes died of cancer on October 28, 1998.