Ted Hughes (1930-1998) was a British Poet. His first collection, 1957’s The Hawk in the Rain, introduced him as a writer of great originality, focusing on the the awesome power of nature, often in contrast to human endeavours. He revived many old verse forms, and experimented with rarely-seen metrical structures. He was Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.

Hughes was beset by tragedy. His first wife, American poet Sylvia Plath, was hugely successful in her own right. She had attempted suicide several times, starting when a teenager, long before their marriage, but in 1963 died, having gassed herself following his affair with another women, Assia Wevill. Hughes married Assia but in 1969, in what seems like a copycat suicide, she killed herself and her small daughter, Shura. Hughes never spoke publicly about these terrible experiences, although he did say that Sylvia Plath had been unstable and depressive, and on a path to suicide all her life.

Ted Hughes' poetry, however, has been admired and enormously successful and he was appointed poet laureate in 1984. His domestic life became happy ultimately when, in 1970, he married Carol Orchard, a successful relationship that continued until his death.

Ted Hughes has been the target of feminist hate, relating particularly to his relationship with Sylvia Plath and blaming him for her suicide. Subsequently, more balanced and sympathetic biographies have been published.

Ted Hughes died in 1998 and has since received many honours, including a memorial in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.