Collected Poems for Children - Softcover

Hughes, Ted

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571215025 ISBN 13: 9780571215027

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2008

Synopsis

This collection brings together the poems Ted Hughes wrote for children throughout his life. They are arranged by volume, beginning with those for reading aloud to the very young, progressing to the poems in Under the North Star and What is the Truth? and ending with Season Songs, which Hughes remarked was written ''within hearing'' of children. Raymond Briggs brings to the collection two hundred original drawings that capture the wit, gentleness and humanity of these poems and make this a book any reader - child and adult - will return to again and again.

About this title

About the Author

Ted Hughes (1930-1998) was born in Yorkshire. His first book, The Hawk in the Rain, was published in 1957 by Faber & Faber and was followed by many volumes of poetry and prose for adults and children. He received the Whitbread Book of the Year for two consecutive years for his last published collections of poetry, Tales from Ovid and Birthday Letters. He was Poet Laureate from 1984, and in 1998 he was appointed to the Order of Merit.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Collected Poems for Children
Skunk
Skunk's footfall plods padded
            But like the thunder-crash
He makes the night woods nervous
            And wears the lightning-flash -
From nose to tail a zigzag spark
            As warning to us all
That thunderbolts are very like
            The strokes he can let fall.
That cloudburst soak, that dazzling bang
            Of stink he can let drop
Over you like a cloak of tar
            Will bring you to a stop.
O Skunk! O King of Stinkards!
Only the Moon Knows
You are her prettiest, ugliest flower,
            Her blackest, whitest rose!

Edition details

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0571215025
• ISBN 13: 9780571215027
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272