Ted Hughes: Poems and Short Stories - The Spoken Word (audio CD)

This two CD set features live and studio recordings of the poet Ted Hughes reading and discussing his own work. The recordings include his earliest surviving poetry broadcast and extensive selections from Remains of Elmet and Moortown Diary, plus selections from his Crow poems and two complete short stories, The Harvesting and Snow.

Hughes was Poet Laureate from 1984 till his death in 1998 and is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished British poets of the post-war period. Most of the broadcasts are previously unpublished.

Track listing
1. The Harvesting – a short story
2. The Captain’s Speech (from The House of Aries)
3. Thistles (from Wodwo)

4. [Introduction]

5. Football at Slack

6. Wild Rock

7. For Billy Holt

8. When Men Got to the Summit

9. The Long Tunnel Ceiling

10. Mount Zion

11. Shackleton Hill

12. Cock-Crows

13 Heptonstall Old Church

14. [Introduction]

15. Teaching a dumb calf

16. Tractor

17. Orf

18. February 17th

19. Happy calf

20. [Introduction]

21. Earth-numb (from Earth-numb)

22. A Motorbike (from Earth-numb)

23. The Lovepet (from Earth-numb)

24. Funeral (No. 22 from Orts)

25. The Song (from Adam and the Sacred Nine)

26. And the Falcon came (from Adam and the Sacred Nine)

27. The Swift comes the swift (from Adam and the Sacred Nine)

28. The Dove Came (from Adam and the Sacred Nine)

29. Life Is Trying to Be Life (from Earth-numb)

Reviews:

[The] power of his wrestling words is given a mighty new dimension by the poet's own, spoken voice ... be overawed by the

vigour and strength of his language, by his mighty, questioning, sinewy genius.

Sue Gaisford, The Independent

[This] will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Sue Arnold, The Guardian