Book description
Originally published in 1979, Moortown Diary is the updated version
of Ted Hughes's acclaimed Devon farming sequence, written over a
period of several years during which he was spending almost every day
outside, either gardening or farming. The introduction and notes
(added in 1989) sketch in the background from which these remarkable
poems emerged as an improvised verse journal, sparely edited,
coalescing spontaneously on the page. 'Moortown Diary keeps its eye
firmly on the creatures behind the language. It's written in the style
of Hughes's play translations: very swift and bright and urgent and
speakable...Hughes strips away the protective layers - the
soundproofed ears, the double-glazed eyes - that prevent us making
contact with anything outside ourselves. Right now, I can't think of
anything more important than that kind of poem. Because we're not just
here to think about literature. We're here to try to wake up.' Alice
Oswald, The Guardian 'It grips your heart, and your intestines, like a
vice from the first page. He makes language as physical as a bruise,
and in these poems beauty and tenderness blend with violence.' John
Carey, Sunday Times 'The Moortown sequence includes some of Hughes's
finest poems...They are like no other poems I have read, with a degree
of intensity, sanity and grace that he has never equalled.' Anthony
Thwaite, Times Literary Supplement
Ted Hughes (1930-1998) was born in Yorkshire. His first book,
The Hawk in the Rain, was published in 1957 by Faber and Faber and was
followed by many volumes of poetry and prose for adults and children.
He received the Whitbread Book of the Year for two consecutive years
for his last published collections of poetry, Tales from Ovid (1997)
and Birthday Letters (1998). He was Poet Laureate from 1984, and in
1998 he was appointed to the Order of Merit.
