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Ted Hughes

(1930-1998), Poet Laureate

Edward James ('Ted') Hughes

Sitter in 15 portraits
Born in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, Hughes won a scholarship to Pembroke College, Cambridge. Hughes's poems address man's connection with nature and animals, often intimating the violence of that relationship. His best-known works include his acclaimed debut book of poems The Hawk in the Rain (1957), Crow (1970), the translation, Tales from Ovid (1997) and numerous children's stories and plays including The Iron Man (1968). From 1984 until his death he was Poet Laureate. Hughes was married to the American writer, Sylvia Plath from 1956 to 1963, when she committed suicide. The relationship inspired a late collection of poems Birthday Letters (1998).

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Ted Hughes; Sylvia Plath, by Harry Ogden - NPG P2012

Ted Hughes; Sylvia Plath

by Harry Ogden
gelatin silver print, 1956
NPG P2012

Ted Hughes, by Sylvia Plath - NPG 6739

Ted Hughes

by Sylvia Plath
pen and ink, circa 1957
NPG 6739

Ted Hughes, by Rollie McKenna - NPG P1673

Ted Hughes

by Rollie McKenna
bromide print, 1959
NPG P1673

Ted Hughes, by Henri Cartier-Bresson - NPG P726

Ted Hughes

by Henri Cartier-Bresson
bromide print, 1971
NPG P726

Ted Hughes, by Barrie Cooke - NPG 6871

Ted Hughes

by Barrie Cooke
oil on board, 1980-1983
NPG 6871

Sylvia Plath; Ted Hughes, by Rollie McKenna - NPG x137160

Sylvia Plath; Ted Hughes

by Rollie McKenna
bromide print, 1959
NPG x137160

Ted Hughes, by Edward Lucie-Smith - NPG x18665

Ted Hughes

by Edward Lucie-Smith
bromide print, May 1970
NPG x18665

Ted Hughes, by Noel Chanan - NPG x125272

Ted Hughes

by Noel Chanan
selenium-toned bromide print, 1979
NPG x125272

Ted Hughes, by Noel Chanan - NPG x125273

Ted Hughes

by Noel Chanan
selenium-toned bromide print, 1979
NPG x125273

Ted Hughes, by Anne-Katrin Purkiss - NPG x36185

Ted Hughes

by Anne-Katrin Purkiss
bromide print, July 1990
NPG x36185

Ted Hughes, by Niall McDiarmid - NPG x87333

Ted Hughes

by Niall McDiarmid
bromide print, 1994
NPG x87333

Image currently unavailable owing to copyright restrictions

Ted Hughes

by Bill Brandt
bromide print, 1978
NPG x22433

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