Into time and other people : Ted Hughes' art of healing

Abstract

The main concern of this dissertation is Ted Hughes' conception of poetry as a healing device. This study is geared towards interpretatively unveiling this healing quality in Hughes' poetic works and of evaluating the poet's notion of its significance for human civilisation. Hughes is first of all viewed as a member of the immediate post-war generation and this serves as a platform from which to investigate Hughes' relationship with literary tradition. From this stems out such a discussion as that dealing with Hughes' refusal to comply with the prosaic poetic mode of the Movement poets and his willingness to work with those elements disregarded by the Movement. This dissertation attempts to demonstrate how Hughes' vision is that of a cultural critic who perceives himself and his poetic talent as possessing a redemptive function. It attempts to trace the evolution of this mystical vision from its initial heavy concern with violence as a manifestation of the energy lacking in human beings to its ultimate celebration of human unity with 'the bigger energy, the elemental power circuit of the Universe'. Hughes' conception of poetry as ritual is intrinsically bound to his critique of the rational mode of being and its efforts to repress intrinsic elements of the human psyche. This discussion is conducted in the light of Hughes' reliance upon psychoanalytic ideas and his conception of the poet as some kind of shamanic figure. Ingrained in this is an elucidation of how Hughes' reading and translation of such poets as Janos Pilinszky and Vasko Popa among others made him aware of poetry's potential as a means of addressing the subconscious through myth. Hughes' adoption of alchemical motifs and his frequent references to the different areas of the arcana also form part of the discussion, as does an inquiry of the uses of symbolism and literary allusions. An investigation of the mythopoeic quality of Hughes' work is tied to an analysis of the influence exerted by Robert Graves' The White Goddess upon Hughes' poetic method. This is partly comprised of a review of the intertextual echoes yielded by the poet's reworking of the myths of ancient civilisations and primitive religions for his own specific purposes. This dissertation gives special importance to the quest motif Hughes adopted from past literature and it seeks to show how Hughes does not fully believe in the possibility of absolute healing, but suppresses his scepticism by focusing on the beneficent aspects of the quest itself as a psychic and spiritual activity. Even though this dissertation attempts to be as comprehensive as possible in its efforts to understand Hughes' poetic healing method and the vision exuded by his poetry, it focuses primarily on the following volumes: • The Hawk in the Rain (1957) • Lupercal (1960) • Cave Birds (1978) • Moortown (1979) • River(I983)