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Published: Oct. 3, 2022, 4 a.m.

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An episode from 10/3/22: Over the course of forty years, Ted Hughes (1930-1998) wrote some of the best poetry of the twentieth (or any) century. Tonight, I read twelve of Hughes\\u2019s essential poems, where we see his primal concerns\\u2014the violence but also beauty of nature and animal life; mythology and religion; and his own autobiography\\u2014expressed in language as powerful as any that has ever been written. The poems are:

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• Wind (from the Hawk in the Rain, 1957)
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• Six Young Men (from the Hawk in the Rain, 1957)
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• Crow\'s Song About God (from Crow, 1970-71)
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• \\u201cI skin the skin\\u201d (from Gaudete, 1977)
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• A Green Mother (from Cave Birds, 1978)
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• Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three Days (from\\nCave Birds, 1978)
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• Cock-Crows (from Remains of Elmet, 1979)
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• Rain (from Moortown Diary, 1979)
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• February 17th (from Moortown Diary, 1979)
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• Four March Watercolours (from River, 1983)
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• October Salmon (from River, 1983)
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• Life After Death (from Birthday Letters, 1998)
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• This is followed by a reading Hughes gave of his poem, \\u201cOctober Salmon.\\u201d
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Hughes\\u2019s poetry can be found in his \\u2060Collected Poems\\u2060. Smaller selections include \\u2060Selected Poems 1957-1994\\u2060 and \\u2060A Ted Hughes Bestiary\\u2060. In this episode I also read from \\u2060The Letters of Ted Hughes\\u2060.

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Other episodes on Hughes include \\u2060one where he discusses privacy\\u2060 for his family in the wake of Sylvia Plath\\u2019s posthumous fame; another where \\u2060he discusses how he discovered poetry\\u2060; and another, \\u2060much longer episode of readings\\u2060 from Hughes\\u2019s poetry.

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Don\\u2019t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us\\xa0on Substack, where you can also get our newsletter and other extras. You can also support the podcast by ordering any of my books:\\xa0Notes from the Grid,\\xa0To the House of the Sun,\\xa0The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and\\xa0Bone Antler Stone.

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Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to\\xa0humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.

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