How was Ted Hughes's poetry affected by Sylvia Plath? What is the importance of his early life on the Yorkshire moors with his elder brother, that he called Paradise? How did writing Birthday Letters affect his attitude to his life and career? This book attempts to answer these questions by a close study of Hughes's poetic development.

'Ted Hughes: A Literary Life is a masterly account of Hughes' career as a writer, of the influences which formed him, of the cost of the literary life in precluding the more spontaneous life of a farmer or fisherman. Neil Roberts draws on a long and deep familiarity with all Hughes' published work, and on the extensive collections of unpublished material. Hughes' claims for poetry were so great that he was invariably dissatisfied with his own achievements. Nevertheless, Roberts demonstrates that Hughes' stature in the second half of the twentieth century is comparable to that of Yeats and Eliot in the first.' - Keith Sagar, Special Professor of English, University of Nottingham, UK

'Ted Hughes: A Literary Life really is masterly - the story riveting and the criticism judicious.' - James Booth, Professor of English Literature, University of Hull, UK

'Ted Hughes: A Literary Life gives us true scholarship at the service of its subject, and it would be difficult to findpraise high enough for Roberts's marvellous achievement.' - William Bedford, Agenda

'Roberts is an acute and sensitive observer of the language and rhythm of Hughes's poetry...this book is valuable background reading for any discussion of Ted Hughes's life and work.' - Ann Skea, Eclectica Magazine

'Neil Roberts has a direct style and a precise focus, both of which make this a most stimulating and crisp analysis of Hughes's work.' - The Use of English