The Voice of Nature in Ted Hughess Writing for Children

Despite the fame Ted Hughess poetry has achieved, there has been surprisingly little critical writing on his childrens literature. This book identifies the importance of Hughess childrens writing from an ecocritical perspective and argues that the healing function that Hughes ascribes to nature in his childrens literature is closely linked to the development of his own sense of environmental responsibility. This book will be the first sustained examination of Hughess greening in relation to his writing for children, providing a detailed reading of Hughess childrens literature through his poetry, prose and drama as well as his critical essays and letters. In addition, it also explores how Hughess childrens writing is a window to the poets own emotional struggles, as well as his environmental consciousness and concern to reconnect a society that has become alienated from nature. This book will be of great interest to not only those studying Ted Hughes, but also students and scholars of environment and literature, ecocriticism, childrens literature and twentieth-century literature.