Ted Hughes

Poet Laureate of England, and one of the most controversial poets and literary figures of his time, Ted Hughes (1930-1998) was born Edward James Hughes in Mytholmroyd, in the West Riding district of Yorkshire. Hughes began writing verse as an adolescent. The foreboding, violent atmosphere of his poems was influenced, according to him, by his father's accounts of service in World War I, and his own early experiences on the moors, a dramatic landscape where he hunted small game with his brother and became an avid observer of the natural world. Hughes constructed a mythic rather than explicitly political framework for this world, using both lyric form and dramatic monologue to give voice to the intense struggle between the hunter and the hunted, the human and the divine. Animals appear frequently throughout his work: as deity, metaphor, persona and icon. Perhaps the most famous of his subjects is "Crow," an amalgam of god, bird and man, whose existence seems pivotal to the knowledge of good and evil. His books of poems include The Birthday Letters (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1998), Wolfwatching (1990), Flowers and Insects (1986), River (1984), Selected Poems 1957-1981 (1982), Moortown (1980), Remains of Elmet (1979), Cave Birds (1979), Gaudette (1977), Crow (1971), and Lupercal (1960); he published several books of verse for children, acclaimed translations, and a volume of occasional prose entitled Winter Pollen (1994). Appointed Poet Laureate in 1984, he also received the Whitbread Prize in 1998.

After completing national service at a remote RAF station, Hughes studied at Cambridge University and began publishing his poems in literary journals. In 1956, he met the American poet Sylvia Plath, who was continuing her studies on a Fulbright Fellowship, and they were married in June of that year. On Plath's encouragement, Hughes submitted his first manuscript, The Hawk in the Rain, to The Poetry Center's First Publication book contest, which announced him as the winner. The book, published in England and America in 1957, received much critical praise, and established Hughes as an important and innovative poet of his generation. The Hugheses had two children, Frieda and Nicholas, in addition to their burgeoning literary careers. Hughes and Plath spent a year teaching at Amherst and Smith Colleges, respectively, before deciding in 1959 to return to England to devote their full-time energies to their writing. In the summer of 1962, they decided to separate. Plath's suicide in early 1963—and the astonishing poems she left behind—made a substantial mark on the literary landscape, and followed Hughes for the rest of his life. Feminist critics lambasted him for his infidelity and abandonment of his wife; controversy surrounded his editorship of Plath's poems and prose. Hughes destroyed or misplaced key entries from the journals, and re-ordered his wife's final collection, Ariel. Ironically, the woman he allegedly left Plath for—Assia Wevill—also committed suicide, and by carbon monoxide poisoning, the same method his wife used. It took Hughes thirty-five years to break silence on the subject: his final collection, The Birthday Letters documents every phase of his relationship with Plath. Published a year before his death from cancer, the book re-ignited the famous controversy and met with mixed critical response. Ted Hughes died in October 1998 in Devonshire, England.

A Woman Unconscious  Russia and America circle each other;Threats nudge an act that were without doubt A melting of the mould in the mother,Stones melting about the root.

The quick of the earth burned out:The toil of all our ages a lossWith leaf and insect. Yet flitting thought(Not to be thought ridiculous)

Shies from the world-cancelling blackOf its playing shadow: it has learned That there's no trusting (trusting to luck)Dates when the world's due to be burned;

That the future's no calamitous changeBut a malingering of now,Histories, towns, faces that noMalice or accident much derange.

And though bomb be matched against bomb,Though all mankind wince out and nothing endure --Earth gone in an instant flare --Did a lesser death come

Onto the white hospital bedWhere one, numb beyond her last of sense,Closed her eyes on the world's evidenceAnd into pillows sunk her head.

Onesviješćena žena

Rusija i Amerika opkoljavaju jedna drugu;prijetnje tjeraju na čin bez dvojbepretapa se memla u majku,stijene ogoljavaju korijenje.

Zemaljska ograda je izgorjela

Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three Days

She gives him his eyes, she found themAmong some rubble, among some beetles

He gives her her skinHe just seemed to pull it down out of the air and lay it over herShe weeps with fearfulness and astonishment

She has found his hands for him, and fitted them freshly at the wristsThey are amazed at themselves, they go feeling all over her

He has assembled her spine, he cleaned each piece carefullyAnd sets them in perfect orderA superhuman puzzle but he is inspiredShe leans back twisting this way and that, using it and laughingIncredulous

Now she has brought his feet, she is connecting themSo that his whole body lights up

And he has fashioned her new hipsWith all fittings complete and with newly wound coils, all shiningly oiledHe is polishing every part, he himself can hardly believe it

They keep taking each other to the sun, they find they can easilyTo test each new thing at each new step

And now she smoothes over him the plates of his skullSo that the joints are invisible

And now he connects her throat, her breasts and the pit of her stomachWith a single wire

She gives him his teeth, tying the the roots to the centrepin of his body

He sets the little circlets on her fingertips

She stiches his body here and there with steely purple silk

He oils the delicate cogs of her mouth

She inlays with deep cut scrolls the nape of his neck

He sinks into place the inside of her thighs

So, gasping with joy, with cries of wondermentLike two gods of mudSprawling in the dirt, but with infinite careThey bring each other to perfection.

Nevjesta i mladoženja tri dana leže skriveni

Daje mu njegove oči, pronalazi ih kod nekog otpada, pored nekih moljaca

podaje joj njenu kožu,i baš kada je trebalo da je obori i legne preko nje,zaplakala je prestrašena i užasnuta

pronašla mu je njegove ruke i žustro namjestila rukave,iznenađene su sobom, cijelu će je opipati

cijela joj leđa obgrlio, i oprezno počistio svaki dio;i čine savršenu nadljudsku zagonetku,ali on je nadahnut,a ona se naginje nazad i povijapodsmjehujući se

cijelo mu tijelo drhti dok mu dodiruje stopalai spaja ih

a on joj sačini nova bedra,sa svim što treba i sa svježim uvojcima, sjanim,i svu je sjaji, ne vjerujući samome sebi

i sada glača njegovu lobanju,da se nabori ne vide

i jednom niti on spajanjeno grlo, njedra i stomak

podaje mu njegove zube, vežući korijenje s središtem tijela

stavlja maleno prstenje na njene jagodice

prekriva njegovo tijelo tu i tamo nebeski grimiznom svilom

vlaži nježne nabore njenih usta

i predaje se dubokim uvojcima njegovom zatiljku

on ponire u njena bedra

tako, dahćući zadovoljno, plačući zadivljenokao dva boga blata,opruženi u neredu, ali beskonačno mareći,jedno za drugim,dovode se do savršenstva

Crow's Fall

When Crow was white he decided the sun was too white.He decided it glared much too whitely.He decided to attack it and defeat it.

He got his strength up flush and in full glitter.He clawed and fluffed his rage up.He aimed his beak direct at the sun's centre.

He laughed himself to the centre of himself

And attacked.

At his battle cry trees grew suddenly old,Shadows flattened.

But the sun brightened—It brightened, and Crow returned charred black.

He opened his mouth but what came out was charred black.

"Up there," he managed,"Where white is black and black is white, I won."

Vranin pad

Kada vrana bješe bila bijela, zaključi da je i Sunce bijelozaključi da će bijelinom jače sijati,odluči da ga napadne i potuče.

Skupila je svu snagu i poletjela punim sjajom,ščepala je Sunčevu gordotu i raspršila je.Usmjerila je kljun u središte Sunca.

Ismijavala se samoj sebi

i napala.

I bitkom tužna stabla odjednom ostariše,sjene padoše.

Ali, sijalo je Sunce – sijalo, i Vrana se povrati garava.

Otvori usta, ali sve što izađe bila je – zagasita crnina.

I stigla je reći:Želim gore, gdje je bijelo crno, A crno bijelo.

Crow's Nerve Fails

Crow, feeling his brain slip, Finds his every feather the fossil of a murder.

Who murdered all these? These living dead, that root in his nerves and his blood Till he is visibly black?

How can he fly from his feathers? And why have they homed on him?

Is he the archive of their accusations? Or their ghostly purpose, their pining vengeance? Or their unforgiven prisoner?

He cannot be forgiven.

His prison is the earth. Clothed in his conviction, Trying to remember his crimes

Heavily he flies.

Popuštaju Vranini živci

Osjećajući da joj mozak klizi, Vranaotrkiva u svakom peru fosil ubice.

Ko je pobio sve te?Mrtvi žive, da joj rovare u živcima i krvi,dok je naoko crna?

Kako može letjeti takvim krilima?I zašto su pripala njoj?

Je li ona zapis njihovih pritužbi?Ili njihova sveta nakana, njihova žudna osveta?Ili njihov nepomilovani zatvorenik?

Ona ne može biti pomilovana.

Njen je zatvor zemlja. U zločinačkoj odori,pokušava se sjetiti svojih zločina.

Teško li leti.

Examination at the Womb-Door

Who owns those scrawny little feet?    Death.Who owns this bristly scorched-looking face?    Death.Who owns these still-working lungs?    Death.Who owns this utility coat of muscles?    Death.Who owns these unspeakable guts?    Death.Who owns these questionable brains?    Death.All this messy blood?    Death.These minimum-efficiency eyes?    Death.This wicked little tongue?    Death.This occasional wakefulness?    Death.

Given, stolen, or held pending trial?Held.

Who owns the whole rainy, stony earth?    Death.Who owns all of space?    Death.

Who is stronger than hope?    Death.Who is stronger than the will?    Death.Stronger than love?    Death.Stronger than life?    Death.

But who is stronger than Death?                           Me, evidently.Pass, Crow.

Ispit na vratima materice

Kome pripada ovo suhonjavo i malešno stopalo? – Smrti!Kome pripada ovo, kao sprženo, naježeno lice? – Smrti!Kome pripadaju pluća što još uvijek rade? – Smrti!Kome pripada ova korisna obloga mišića? – Smrti!Kome pripadaju ove nemušte glasnice? – Smrti!Kome pripada ovaj sumnjičavi mozak? – Smrti!Sva ova neuredna krv? – Smrti.Ove jedva sposobne oči? – Smrti.Ovaj slabi maleni jezik? – Smrti.Ova povremena razbuđenost? – Smrti.

Dan, ukraden ili zadržan tokom pokusa?Zadržan.

Kome pripada sva kišna i kamenita zemlja? – Smrti!Kome pripada cijeli prostor? – Smrti.

Ko je jači od nade? – Smrt!Ko je jači od volje? – Smrt!Jači od ljubavi? – Smrt!Jači od života? – Smrt!

Ali, ko je jači od Smrti?Ja, očito.

Prođi, Vrano!

Full Moon and Little Frieda

A cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark and the clank of a bucket -And you listening.A spider's web, tense for the dew's touch.A pail lifted, still and brimming - mirrorTo tempt a first star to a tremor.

Cows are going home in the lane there, looping the hedges with their warmwreaths of breath -A dark river of blood, many boulders,Balancing unspilled milk.'Moon!' you cry suddenly, 'Moon! Moon!'

The moon has stepped back like an artist gazing amazed at a workThat points at him amazed.

Puni Mjesec i mala Frida

Svježe veče spustilo se na lavež psa i zveket vedara – i ti slušaš.Paukova mreža, zategnuta za dodir rose.Vedro podignuto, mirno i puno – ogledaloda prisili prvu zvjezdu na drhtanje.

Krave idu kući uskom ulicom, pletući ogradu vrelimviticima iz pluća –mračnu rijeku krvi, mnogo stijenje,čuvajući neizmuženo mlijeko.'Mjesec' vrištiš naprasno, 'Mjesec! Mjesec!'

Mjesec se povukao kao umjetnik zadivljen radom.Time i on izaziva udivljenje.

Hawk Roosting

I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.Inaction, no falsifying dreamBetween my hooked head and hooked feet:Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.

The convenience of the high trees!The air's buoyancy and the sun's rayAre of advantage to me;And the earth's face upward for my inspection.

My feet are locked upon the rough bark.It took the whole of CreationTo produce my foot, my each feather:Now I hold Creation in my foot

Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly -I kill where I please because it is all mine.There is no sophistry in my body:My manners are tearing off heads -

The allotment of death.For the one path of my flight is directThrough the bones of the living.No arguments assert my right:

The sun is behind me.Nothing has changed since I began.My eye has permitted no change.I am going to keep things like this.

Sokolovo leglo

Zatvorenih očiju sjedim na vrhu drveta.Mirujem, ne izmišljam sanIzmeđu pognute glave i povijenih nogu:Ili, u snu smišljam savršena ubojstva i jedem.

Olakšica visokog stabla!Lakoća zraka i tračak SuncaSu moja prednost;I lice zemlje upereno gore zbog mog nadzora.

Kandže su mi zakovane za hrapavu koru.Prisvojio sam sve stvorenoDa podnesem kandže i svako svoje pero:I sad držim sve stvoreno u kandžama

ili sve preletjeti, i lagano o svemu misliti – i ubit ću što poželim, jer je sve moje.Nema mudrijašenja u meni:Moji pokreti otkidaju glave.

Udio Smrti.jednom putanjom letimkroz leševe života.Ništa ne dokazuje da sam u pravu.

Sunce je iza mene.Ništa se nije promijenilo otkad sam počeo.Moje oči ne podnose mijene.I ostavit ću sve ovako.

How to Paint a Water Lilly

To Paint a Water Lily Lily of te Waley

A green level of lily leavesRoofs the pond's chamber and paves

The flies' furious arena: studyThese, the two minds of this lady.

First observe the air's dragonflyThat eats meat, that bullets by

Or stands in space to take aim;Others as dangerous comb the hum

Under the trees. There are battle-shoutsAnd death-cries everywhere hereabouts

But inaudible, so the eyes praiseTo see the colours of these fliesRainbow their arcs, spark, or settleCooling like beads of molten metal

Through the spectrum. Think what worseis the pond-bed's matter of course;

Prehistoric bedragoned timesCrawl that darkness with Latin names,

Have evolved no improvements there,Jaws for heads, the set stare,

Ignorant of age as of hour—Now paint the long-necked lily-flower

Which, deep in both worlds, can be stillAs a painting, trembling hardly at all

Though the dragonfly alight,Whatever horror nudge her root.

Kako oslikati voden ljiljan

Oslikati vodenog ljiljana

Zelena površ ljiljana napušta Stropove, močvarne komore i kaldrme

Gorostasno bojište muha: trudTe,

Lineage

In the beginning was ScreamWho begat BloodWho begat EyeWho begat FearWho begat WingWho begat BoneWho begat GraniteWho begat VioletWho begat GuitarWho begat SweatWho begat AdamWho begat MaryWho begat GodWho begat NothingWho begat NeverNever Never Never

Who begat Crow

Screaming for BloodGrubs, crusts

Anything

Trembling featherless elbows in the nest's filth

Rodoslovlje

I u početku bijaše Vrisak,koji rodi Krv,koja rodi Oko,koje rodi Strah,koji rodi Krilo,koje rodi Kostura,koji rodi Granit,koji rodi Ljubičicu,koja rodi Gitaru,koja rodi Muku,koja rodi Adama,koji rodi Mariju, koja rodi Boga,koji ne rodi Ništa,koji ne rodi nikad,nikad, nikad, nikad.

Ko je rodio Vranu?

Vrišteći za Krvlju,Crvima, i ljuskama...

Bilo šta

Drhtajući ogoljenih krila u gnjileži gnijezda.

Lovesong

He loved her and she loved him. His kisses sucked out her whole past and future or tried to He had no other appetite She bit him she gnawed him she sucked She wanted him complete inside her Safe and sure forever and ever Their little cries fluttered into the curtains

Her eyes wanted nothing to get away Her looks nailed down his hands his wrists his elbows He gripped her hard so that life Should not drag her from that moment He wanted all future to cease He wanted to topple with his arms round her Off that moment's brink and into nothing Or everlasting or whatever there was

Her embrace was an immense press To print him into her bones His smiles were the garrets of a fairy palace Where the real world would never come Her smiles were spider bites So he would lie still till she felt hungry His words were occupying armies Her laughs were an assassin's attempts His looks were bullets daggers of revenge His glances were ghosts in the corner with horrible secrets His whispers were whips and jackboots Her kisses were lawyers steadily writing His caresses were the last hooks of a castaway Her love-tricks were the grinding of locks And their deep cries crawled over the floors Like an animal dragging a great trap His promises were the surgeon's gag Her promises took the top off his skull She would get a brooch made of it His vows pulled out all her sinews He showed her how to make a love-knot Her vows put his eyes in formalin At the back of her secret drawer Their screams stuck in the wall

Their heads fell apart into sleep like the two halves Of a lopped melon, but love is hard to stop

In their entwined sleep they exchanged arms and legs In their dreams their brains took each other hostage

In the morning they wore each other's face

Ljubavna pjesma

On je volio nju i ona je voljela njega.Njegovi poljupci isisaše svu njenu prošlost i budućnost, ili samo pokušaše,drugih prohtjeva nije imaogrizla ga, glodala, sisalahtjela ga cijelog u sebispokojnog i pouzdanog uvijek i zauvijeki njihovi lagan plač zavihori zastave.

njene oči su htjele da im ništa ne promaknenjeni su pogledi sklapali njegove ruke, zglavke i laktoveščepao ju je tako jakoda je život ne bi odvukaoželio je zamrznuti budućnostželio je obujmiti rukamai pretvoriti taj tren u ništaili u vječnost ili u bilo šta

njen zagrljaj bio je neizmjerno čvrstumalo da ga utisne u kostinjegovi osmijesi bili su kao čardaci vilenskog zamkau koji stvarnost nikada ne bi došlanjeni osmijesi bilu su ujedi paukatako da bi ležao sve dok ona ne osjeti gladnjegove riječi bile su okupatorska vojskanjeni smiješci bili su atentatorovi pokušajinjegovi pogledi bili su olovni mačevi osvetenjeni poljupci bili su advokati temeljitinjegova milovanja bila su posljednje udice brodolomcanjene ljubavne zamke bile su zveket zasunaa njihovi udboki uzdasi puzali su po tlukao zvijer koja vuče zamkunjegova obećanja zauzela su mu vrh lubanjeona bi dobila bedž od tog napravljennjegove zakletve su joj izvukle sve snagepokazao joj je kako napraviti ljubavni čvornjene zakletve pretvoriše mu oči u formalinna kraju njenog tajnog izdankanjihovi su se krici zaglavili u zidu

glave su im odvojene zaspala kao dvije polutkeoguljene dinje, ali ljubav je prejaka da bi prestala

isprepleteni su zaspali razmijenjenih nogu i rukuu snovima, njihovi su se umovi uzeli za taoce

u jutro imali su lica jedno drugog

Macaw and Little Miss

In a cage of wire-ribsThe size of a man's head, the macaw bristles in a staringCombustion, suffers the stoking devils of his eyes.In the old lady's parlour, where an aspidistra succumbsTo the musk of faded velvet, he hangs in clear flames,    Like a torturer's iron instrument preparing    With dense slow shudderings of greens, yellows, blues,        Crimsoning into the barbs:

    Or like the smouldering head that hungIn Killdevil's brass kitchen, in irons, who had beenVolcano swearing to vomit the world away in black ash,And would, one day; or a fugitive aristocratFrom some thunderous mythological hierarchy, caught    By a little boy with a crust and a bent pin,    Or snare of horsehair set for a song-thrush,        And put in a cage to sing.

    The old lady who feeds him seedsHas a grand-daughter. The girl calls him 'Poor Polly', pokes fun.'Jolly Mop.' But lies under every full moon,The spun glass of her body bared and so gleam-stillHer brimming eyes do not tremble or spill    The dream where the warrior comes, lightning and iron,    Smashing and burning and rending towards her loin:        Deep into her pillow her silence pleads.

    All day he stares at his furnaceWith eyes red-raw, but when she comes they close.'Polly. Pretty Poll', she cajoles, and rocks him gently.She caresses, whispers kisses. The blue lids stay shut.She strikes the cage in a tantrum and swirls out:    Instantly beak, wings, talons crash    The bars in conflagration and frenzy,        And his shriek shakes the house.

Old Age Gets Up

Stirs its ashes and embers, its burnt sticks

An eye powdered over, half melted and solid againPondersIdeas that collapseAt the first touch of attention

The light at the window, so square and so sameSo full-strong as ever, the window frameA scaffold in space, for eyes to lean on

Supporting the body, shaped to its old workMaking small movements in gray airNumbed from the blurred accidentOf having lived, the fatal, real injuryUnder the amnesia

Something tries to save itself-searchesFor defenses-but words evadeLike flies with their own notions

Old age slowly gets dressedHeavily dosed with death's nightSits on the bed's edge

Pulls its pieces togetherLoosely tucks in its shirt

Podiže se staro doba

Dirka svoj pepeo i žar, i svoje oprženo žezlo

September

We sit late, watching the dark slowly unfold:No clock counts this.When kisses are repeated and the arms hold There is no telling where time is.

It is midsummer: the leaves hang big and still:Behind the eye a star,Under the silk of the wrist a sea, tellTime is nowhere.

We stand; leaves have not timed the summer.No clock now needsTell we have only what we remember:Minutes uproaring with our heads

Like an unfortunate King's and his Queen's When the senseless mob rules;And quietly the trees casting their crownsInto the pools.

Septembar

Sjedimo kasno, gledamo razmotavanje tame:račun sata je nemoćan.Poljupci se ponavljaju, ruke stisnute – ne pitaj za vrijeme.

Pola ljeta: lišće miruje u svom obliku.Iza oka – zvijezda,ispod svilenog zgloba – more, recivrijeme je nigdje.

Ne mičemo. Lišće otkucava ljeto.Ne trebaju nam satovi,reci, imamo samo ono što pamtimo:nered minuta s našim glavama

kao nesretan Kralj i njegova Kraljicadok besmisao izvrće pravilai drvlje pretvara svoje krošnjeu kaljuže.