Poet and Critic: The Letters of Ted Hughes and Keith Sagar

The correspondence between the British poet Ted Hughes and literary critic Keith Sagar lasted from 1969 until Hughes’s death in 1998. During that time Hughes wrote 146 letters to Sagar, which show a unique dialogue between a writer and a critic. In the letters Hughes describes his creative process candidly and in great depth, offering exceptional insight into the poet at work. Their relationship, however, extended to many areas beyond literature, and the letters also cover such topics as Hughes’s travels, hunting, religion, education, and his fraught relationship with Sylvia Plath. Never published before in their entirety, this collection provides a significant new perspective on Hughes’s life and work.

Keith Sagar was a reader in literature at Manchester University. He is now special professor at Nottingham University. He is the author of over twenty books. Ted Hughes (1930–98) is considered by many the greatest English poet of the twentieth century. He is best known for his poetry collections The Hawk in the Rain, Crow, and Birthday Letters, and the children’s book The Iron Man.