Misplaced Pages

Ted Hughes

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
#160839

85-545: Edward James "Ted" Hughes OM OBE FRSL (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1984 and held the office until his death. In 2008, The Times ranked Hughes fourth on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". He married fellow poet Sylvia Plath , an American, in 1956. They lived together in

170-640: A joiner , was of Irish descent. He had enlisted with the Lancashire Fusiliers in the First World War and fought at Ypres . He narrowly escaped being killed; he was saved when a bullet hit him but lodged in a pay book in his breast pocket. He was one of just 17 men of his regiment to return from the Dardanelles Campaign (1915–16). The stories of Flanders fields filled Hughes's childhood imagination (later described in

255-401: A manciple , a cook, a barber and a laundress. Both the founding of the college and the building of the city's first college Chapel (1355) required the grant of a papal bull . The original court was the university's smallest at only 95 feet (29 m) by 55 feet (17 m), but was enlarged to its current size in the nineteenth century by demolishing the south range. The college's gatehouse

340-410: A Rat". He did not write poetry again for three years. He broadcast extensively, wrote critical essays, and became involved in running Poetry International with Patrick Garland and Charles Osborne , in the hopes of connecting English poetry with the rest of the world. In 1966, he wrote poems to accompany Leonard Baskin 's illustrations of crows, which became the epic narrative The Life and Songs of

425-415: A bequest of £34 million from the estate of American inventor and Pembroke alumnus Ray Dolby , thought to be the largest single donation to a college in the history of Cambridge University. The first buildings comprised a single court (now called Old Court) containing all the component parts of a college – chapel, hall, kitchen and buttery, master's lodgings, students' rooms – and the statutes provided for

510-547: A body of students and fellows. The statutes were notable in that they both gave preference to students born in France who had already studied elsewhere in England, and that they required students to report fellow students if they indulged in excessive drinking or visited disreputable houses. The college was later renamed Pembroke Hall, and finally became Pembroke College in 1856. Marie was closely involved with College affairs in

595-583: A close relationship with local landowners and riparian owners. Hughes was appointed a member of the Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth II just before he died. He had continued to live at the house in Devon, until suffering a fatal heart attack on 28 October 1998 while undergoing hospital treatment for colon cancer in Southwark , London. His funeral was held on 3 November 1998, at North Tawton church, and he

680-593: A flat ceiling and add two storeys of sets above. The wall between the Hall and the Fellows' Parlour was taken down, and the latter made into a High Table dais. A new Senior Parlour was then created on the ground floor of Hitcham Building. The remodelling work was completed in 1949 when Murray Easton replaced the Gothic tracery of the windows with a simpler design in the style of the medieval Hall. In 1933 Maurice Webb built

765-603: A gas stove. Wevill also killed her child, Alexandra Tatiana Elise (nicknamed Shura), the four-year-old daughter of Hughes, born on 3 March 1965. These deaths resulted in reports that Hughes had been abusive to both Plath and Wevill. Hughes did not finish the Crow sequence until after his work Cave Birds was published in 1975. In August 1970, Hughes married a second time, to Carol Orchard, a nurse. They were together until his death. Heather Clark in her biography of Plath, Red Comet (2021), observed that Hughes “would never be faithful to

850-533: A great Chapel in his former college. The resulting Chapel was consecrated on St Matthew's Day, 1665, and the eastern end was extended by George Gilbert Scott in 1880, when it was consecrated on the Feast of the Annunciation. An increase in membership over the last 150 years saw a corresponding increase in building activity. The Hall was rebuilt in 1875–1876 to designs by Alfred Waterhouse after he had declared

935-632: A ground wireless mechanic in the RAF on an isolated three-man station in east Yorkshire. During this time, he had little to do but "read and reread Shakespeare and watch the grass grow". He learnt many of the plays by heart and memorised great quantities of W. B. Yeats 's poetry. In 1951 Hughes initially studied English at Pembroke College under M. J. C. Hodgart, an authority on balladic forms. Hughes felt encouraged and supported by Hodgart's supervision, but attended few lectures and wrote no more poetry at this time, feeling stifled by literary academia and

SECTION 10

#1732801029161

1020-509: A history of suicide attempts, Plath took her own life on 11 February 1963. Hughes dramatically wrote in a letter to an old friend of Plath's from Smith College, "That's the end of my life. The rest is posthumous." Some people argued that Hughes had driven Plath to suicide. Plath's gravestone in Heptonstall was repeatedly vandalized. Some people were aggrieved that "Hughes" is written on her stone and attempted to chisel it off, leaving only

1105-473: A late Baroque style, the principal function of which was to act as a bridge by which undergraduates might cross the Master's forecourt at first-floor level from Pitt Building to New Court without leaving the college or trespassing in what was then the Fellows' Garden. In 1926, as the Fellows had become increasingly disenchanted with Waterhouse's Hall, Maurice Webb was brought in to remove the open roof, put in

1190-532: A member of the de Châtillon family of France, founded Pembroke College, Cambridge. On Christmas Eve 1347, Edward III granted Marie de St Pol, widow of the Earl of Pembroke , the licence for the foundation of a new educational establishment in the young university at Cambridge. The Hall of Valence Mary ("Custos & Scolares Aule Valence Marie in Cantebrigg'"), as it was originally known, was thus founded to house

1275-740: A neck ribbon (as a necklet ), while women wear theirs on a ribbon bow pinned to the left shoulder, and aides-de-camp may wear the insignia on their aiguillettes . Since 1991, the insignia must be returned upon the recipient's death. number appointment There have been no honorary members of the Order of Merit since the death of the last such member, Nelson Mandela , in December 2013. Secretary and Registrar : Robin Janvrin, Baron Janvrin GCB , GCVO , QSO , PC As

1360-517: A new Master's Lodge in the south-east corner of the College gardens, on land acquired from Peterhouse in 1861. Following the war, further accommodation was created with the construction in 1957 of Orchard Building, so called because it stands on part of the Foundress's orchard. Finally, in a move to accommodate the majority of junior members on the College site rather than in hostels in the town, in

1445-465: A nightwatchman, and a reader for the British film company J. Arthur Rank . He worked at London Zoo as a washer-upper, a post that offered plentiful opportunities to observe animals at close quarters. On 25 February 1956, Hughes and his friends held a party to launch St. Botolph's Review , which had a single issue. In it, Hughes had four poems. At the party, he met American poet Sylvia Plath , who

1530-540: A rare television appearance for Channel 4 , reading passages from his 1968 novel The Iron Man . He was featured in the 1994 documentary Seven Crows A Secret . In early 1994, increasingly alarmed by the decline of fish in rivers local to his Devonshire home, Hughes became involved in conservation activism. He was one of the founding trustees of the Westcountry Rivers Trust , a charity established to restore rivers through catchment-scale management and

1615-682: A scholar, receiving only a third-class grade in Part I of the Anthropology and Archaeology Tripos in 1954. His first published poetry appeared in Chequer . A poem, "The little boys and the seasons", written during this time, was published in Granta , under the pseudonym Daniel Hearing. After university, living in London and Cambridge, Hughes had many varied jobs including working as a rose gardener,

1700-530: A semester (mid-January to mid-June), or part of the summer, in Cambridge. The Spring Semester Programme is a competitive programme for academically outstanding students who wish to follow a regular Cambridge degree course as fully matriculated members of the University. There are around thirty places each year. In the summer the college offers the eight-week Pembroke Cambridge Summer Programme. As well as

1785-468: A short story were published in the grammar school magazine The Don and Dearne . He published further poems in 1948. By 16, he had no other thought than being a poet. During the same year, Hughes won an open exhibition in English at Pembroke College, Cambridge , but chose to do his national service first. His two years of national service (1949–1951) passed comparatively easily. Hughes was stationed as

SECTION 20

#1732801029161

1870-665: A short while back in Heptonstall and then finding a small flat in Primrose Hill , London. They were both writing: Hughes was working on programmes for the BBC as well as producing essays, articles, reviews, and talks. During this time, he wrote the poems that would later be published in Recklings (1966) and Wodwo (1967). In March 1960, his book Lupercal was published, and it won the Hawthornden Prize . He found he

1955-441: A succession of teachers encouraged him to write, and develop his interest in poetry. Teachers Miss McLeod and Pauline Mayne introduced him to the poets Gerard Manley Hopkins and T.S. Eliot . Hughes was also mentored by teacher John Fisher, and his own sister Olwyn, who was well versed in poetry. Future poet Harold Massingham also attended this school and was mentored by Fisher. In 1946, one of Hughes's early poems, "Wild West", and

2040-547: A sudden sharp hot stink of fox It enters the dark hole of the head. The window is starless still; the clock ticks, The page is printed. The last four stanzas of "The Thought Fox" from The Hawk in the Rain , 1957 Hughes and Plath were married on 16 June 1956, at St George the Martyr, Holborn , four months after they had first met. They chose the date, Bloomsday , in honour of Irish writer James Joyce . Plath's mother

2125-554: A woman after he left Plath”. Hughes bought a house known as Lumb Bank near Hebden Bridge , West Yorkshire, while still maintaining the property at Court Green . He also began cultivating a small farm near Winkleigh , Devon, called Moortown ; he used this name as the title of one of his poetry collections. Later he served as the president of the charity Farms for City Children , established by his friend Michael Morpurgo in Iddesleigh . In 1970 Hughes and his sister Olwyn set up

2210-659: Is inhabited by ghosts occupying the Ivy Court. Pembroke College has both graduate and undergraduate students, termed Valencians, after the college's original name, and its recreational rooms named as "parlours" rather than the more standard "combination room". The undergraduate student body is represented by the Junior Parlour Committee (JPC). The graduate community is represented by the Graduate Parlour Committee (GPC). In March 2016,

2295-415: Is more needed than the facts. Where that leaves respect for the truth of her life (and of mine), or for her memory, or for the literary tradition, I do not know. As Plath's widower, Hughes became the executor of Plath's personal and literary estates. He oversaw the posthumous publication of her manuscripts, including Ariel (1965). Some critics were dissatisfied by his choice of poem order and omissions in

2380-531: Is now in its 67th year. Pembroke College Association Football Club (PCAFC) and Women's Association Football Club (PCWAFC) compete separately in collegiate competitions. Chrembroke Hockey Club (PCHC) compete jointly with Christ's College , and Pirton RUFC, the rugby union team, are merged with Girton College . Female undergraduates were first admitted to the college in 1984. Pembroke is the only Cambridge college to have an International Programmes Department, providing opportunities for international students to spend

2465-623: Is the Truth? , illustrated by R. J. Lloyd. For that work he won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize , a once-in-a-lifetime book award. Hughes wrote many works for children. He also collaborated closely with Peter Brook and the National Theatre Company . He dedicated himself to the Arvon Foundation , which promotes writing education and has run residential writing courses at Lumb Bank. In 1993, Hughes made

2550-557: Is the oldest in Cambridge. The original Chapel now forms the Old Library and has a striking seventeenth-century plaster ceiling, designed by Henry Doogood, showing birds flying overhead. Around the Civil War , one of Pembroke's fellows and Chaplain to the future Charles I , Matthew Wren , was imprisoned by Oliver Cromwell . On his release after eighteen years, he fulfilled a promise by hiring his nephew Christopher Wren to build

2635-406: Is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows . It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its founding, as well as extensive gardens. Its members are termed "Valencians". The college's current master is Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury . Pembroke has a level of academic performance among the highest of all

Ted Hughes - Misplaced Pages Continue

2720-631: The Dominions of the British Empire became independent countries within the empire, equal in status to the UK, the Order of Merit continued as an honour open to all these realms and, in many, became a part of their newly developing national honours systems. The order's statutes were amended in 1935 to include members of the Royal Air Force and, in 1969, the definition of honorary recipients

2805-566: The Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia , stated that the Order of Merit was the highest civilian award for merit a Canadian could receive. Some orders of precedence are as follows: Order of wear Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge , England . The college

2890-539: The Royal Academy of Arts , advised against the new order, primarily because of its selection process. It was Victoria's son Edward VII who eventually founded the Order of Merit on 26 June 1902 (the date for which his coronation had been originally scheduled ) as a means to acknowledge "exceptionally meritorious service in Our Navy and Our Army, or who may have rendered exceptionally meritorious service towards

2975-601: The University of California . Pembroke College in Brown University , the former women's college at Brown University in the United States, was named for the principal building on the women's campus, Pembroke Hall, which was itself named in honour of the Pembroke College (Cambridge) alumnus Roger Williams , a co-founder of Rhode Island . In 1865 Pembroke College, Cambridge donated land for

3060-456: The "terrible, suffocating, maternal octopus" of literary tradition. He wrote, "I might say, that I had as much talent for Leavis -style dismantling of texts as anyone else, I even had a special bent for it, nearly a sadistic streak there, but it seemed to me not only a foolish game, but deeply destructive of myself." In his third year, he transferred to Anthropology and Archaeology , both of which would later inform his poetry. He did not excel as

3145-525: The 1990s Eric Parry designed a new range of buildings on the site of the Master's Lodge, with a new Lodge at the west end. "Foundress Court" was opened in 1997 in celebration of the college's 650th Anniversary. In 2001 the Library was extended to the east and modified internally. In 2017, Pembroke College launched a new campaign of extension called the "Time and The Place" (or the Mill Lane project), on

3230-404: The 30 years until her death and burial at Denny Abbey , to the north of Cambridge, in 1377. She seems to have been something of a disciplinarian: the original Foundation documents had strict penalties for drunkenness and lechery, required that all students' debts were settled within two weeks of the end of term, and gave strict limits on numbers at graduation parties. In 2015, the college received

3315-677: The Cambridge colleges; in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2018 Pembroke was placed second in the Tompkins Table . Pembroke contains the first chapel designed by Sir Christopher Wren and is one of only six Cambridge colleges to have educated a British prime minister, in Pembroke's case William Pitt the Younger . The college library, with a Victorian neo-gothic clock tower, has an original copy of the first encyclopaedia to contain printed diagrams. Marie de St Pol , Countess of Pembroke (1303–1377),

3400-472: The Crow , one of the works for which Hughes is best known. In 1967, while living with Wevill, Hughes produced two sculptures of a jaguar, one of which he gave to his brother and one to his sister. Gerald Hughes' sculpture, branded with the letter 'A' on its forehead, was offered for sale in 2012. On 23 March 1969, six years after Plath's suicide, Assia Wevill took her own life by the same method: asphyxiation from

3485-537: The Junior Parlour Committee was featured in national newspapers after it cancelled the theme of an "Around The World in 80 Days" dance party. There are many sports and societies organised by members of the college. Amongst the most established are Pembroke College Boat Club and the Pembroke Players , the college's dramatic society which has been made famous by alumni including Peter Cook , Eric Idle , Tim Brooke-Taylor , Clive James and Bill Oddie , and

Ted Hughes - Misplaced Pages Continue

3570-520: The Lord build the house, their labour is but vain that build it"). Building work continued into the 20th century with W. D. Caröe as architect. He added Pitt Building (M staircase) between Ivy Court and Waterhouse's Lodge, and extended New Court with the construction of O staircase on the other side of the Lodge. He linked his two buildings with an arched stone screen, Caröe Bridge, along Pembroke Street in

3655-541: The Order of Merit is open to the citizens of 15 countries, each with their own system of orders, decorations, and medals, the order's place of precedence varies from country to country. While, in the United Kingdom, the order's postnominal letters follow those of Knights and Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath , membership in the Order of Merit itself gives members no place in any of the orders of precedence in

3740-425: The Order of Merit, members are entitled to use the post-nominal letters OM and are entrusted with the badge of the order. The insignia consists of a badge, which consists of a golden crown from which is suspended a red enamelled cross pattée , itself centred by a disk of blue enamel, surrounded by a laurel wreath . The obverse of the badge's central disk bears the words FOR MERIT in gold lettering, while

3825-574: The Order, having been admitted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1968, when he was 47 years old. Robin Eames , Baron Eames represented the order at the coronation of Charles III and Camilla on 6 May 2023. All citizens of the Commonwealth realms are eligible for appointment to the Order of Merit. There may be, however, only 24 living individuals in the order at any given time, not including honorary appointees, and new members are personally selected by

3910-537: The Pennine moorland. The third child, Hughes had a brother Gerald (1920–2016), who was ten years older. Next came their sister Olwyn Marguerite Hughes (1928–2016), who was two years older than Ted. One of their mother's ancestors had founded the Little Gidding community . Most of the more recent generations of the family had worked in the clothing and milling industries in the area. Hughes's father, William,

3995-601: The Rain , which won a competition run by the Poetry centre of the Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association of New York . The first prize was publication by Harper . Hughes gained widespread critical acclaim after the book's release in September 1957, including a Somerset Maugham Award . The work favoured hard-hitting trochees and spondees reminiscent of Middle English — a style he used throughout his career — over

4080-580: The Rainbow Press. Between 1971 and 1981, it published sixteen titles, comprising poems by Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, Ruth Fainlight , Thom Gunn , and Seamus Heaney . The works were printed by Daedalus Press, Rampant Lions Press , and the John Roberts Press. Hughes was appointed Poet Laureate in December 1984, following Sir John Betjeman . A collection of his animal poems for children had been published by Faber earlier that year, What

4165-461: The United Kingdom . However, Stanley Martin says in his book The Order of Merit 1902–2002: One Hundred Years of Matchless Honour , that the Order of Merit is the pinnacle of the British honours system. Similarly, though it was not listed in the Canadian order of precedence for honours, decorations, and medals until December 2010, Christopher McCreery, an expert on Canadian honours and secretary to

4250-582: The United States and then in England, in what was known to be a tumultuous relationship. They had two children before separating in 1962. Plath ended her own life in 1963. Hughes was born at 1 Aspinall Street, in Mytholmroyd in the West Riding of Yorkshire , to William Henry (1894–1981) and Edith (née Farrar) Hughes (1898–1969). He was raised among the local farms of the Calder Valley and on

4335-526: The academic content, trips are made to locales such as London , and the programme has a series of formal halls and events such as croquet matches and punting on the River Cam. This is also the programme for which the prestigious Thouron Prize is awarded, fully supporting nine American undergraduates from Harvard , Yale , and UPenn . In addition, there is the Pembroke College, Cambridge 1976 Scholarship, awarded to three outstanding undergraduates from

SECTION 50

#1732801029161

4420-564: The advancement of Art, Literature and Science". All modern aspects of the order were established under his direction, including the division for military figures. From the outset, prime ministers attempted to propose candidates or lobbied to influence the monarch's decision on appointments. But, the Royal Household adamantly guarded information about potential names. After 1931, when the Statute of Westminster came into effect and

4505-577: The area. At the age of about 13 a friend, John Wholey, took Hughes to his home at Crookhill Lodge, on the Crookhill estate above Conisbrough . There the boys could fish and shoot. Hughes became close to the Wholey family and learnt a lot about wildlife from Wholey's father, the head gardener and gamekeeper on the estate. Hughes came to view fishing as an almost religious experience. Hughes attended Mexborough Secondary School (later Grammar School) , where

4590-494: The armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII , admission into the order remains the personal gift of its Sovereign—currently Edward VII's great-great-grandson Charles III —and is restricted to a maximum of 24 living recipients from the Commonwealth realms, plus honorary members. While all members are awarded the right to use the post-nominal letters OM and wear

4675-492: The arms of De Valence (bars), dimidiated with the arms of St. Pol (vair). It is described as : Pembroke holds Formal Hall 4 evenings a week depending on their qualifications: a separate Hall is held for BA students. Students of the college must wear gowns and arrive on time for Latin Grace , which starts the dinner. Like many Cambridge colleges, Pembroke also has an annual May Ball . According to popular legends, Pembroke

4760-406: The badge of the order, the Order of Merit's precedence among other honours differs between countries. In around 1773, George III considered establishing an order of knighthood to be called the "Order of Minerva " with membership restricted to 24 distinguished artists and authors. Knights would be entitled to the post-nominal letters KM , and would wear a silver nine-pointed breast star with

4845-490: The book. Others who were critical of Hughes personally argued that he had essentially driven Plath to suicide and should not be responsible for her literary legacy. He claimed to have destroyed the final volume of Plath's journal, detailing their last few months together. In his foreword to The Journals of Sylvia Plath , he defends his actions as a consideration for the couple's young children. Following Plath's suicide, Hughes wrote two poems, "The Howling of Wolves" and "Song of

4930-503: The by then long-widowed Queen a draft constitution for an Order of Merit in Science and Art, consisting of one grade split into two branches of knighthood: the Order of Scientific Merit, for Knights of Merit in Science, with the post-nominal letters KMS , and the Order of Artistic Merit, for Knights of Merit in Art, with the post-nominal letters KMA . However, Frederic Leighton , President of

5015-403: The dark snow, A fox's nose touches twig, leaf; Two eyes serve a movement, that now And again now, and now, and now Sets neat prints into the snow Between trees, and warily a lame Shadow lags by stump and in hollow Of a body that is bold to come Across clearings, an eye, A widening deepening greenness, Brilliantly, concentratedly, Coming about its own business Till, with

5100-477: The formation of the Suffolk memorial to Prince Albert . The land at Framlingham in the county of Suffolk was used to build a school, The Albert Memorial College. The school today is known as Framlingham College and one of its seven houses is named Pembroke House in recognition of the contribution Pembroke College has made to the school. In 1981, a decade after the merger of Pembroke College into Brown University,

5185-665: The furious debate that has raged around the late Poet Laureate since the suicide of his first wife, the poet Sylvia Plath." Hughes's brother Gerald published a memoir late in 2014, Ted and I: A Brother's Memoir . Kirkus Reviews described it as "a warm recollection of a lauded poet". Crow Blacker Than Ever When God, disgusted with man, Turned towards heaven, And man, disgusted with God, Turned towards Eve, Things looked like falling apart. But Crow Crow Crow nailed them together, Nailing heaven and earth together- So man cried, but with God's voice. And God bled, but with man's blood. Then heaven and earth creaked at

SECTION 60

#1732801029161

5270-745: The house Court Green , in North Tawton , Devon. In the summer of 1962, Hughes began an affair with Assia Wevill , who had been subletting the Primrose Hill flat with her husband. Under the cloud of his affair, Hughes and Plath separated in the autumn of 1962. Plath moved back to London and set up life in a new flat with the children. Letters written by Plath between 18 February 1960 and 4 February 1963, unseen until 2017, accuse Hughes of physically abusing her, including an incident two days before she miscarried their second child in 1961. Beset by depression made worse by her husband's affair and with

5355-633: The idea, though he briefly reconsidered it in 1789; on 6 February of that year, he revised the design of the order, with the breast star to have sixteen points, the motto to be the Latin for "Learning improves character" and with membership to include distinguished scientists. Following the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, First Lord of the Admiralty Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham and William Pitt exchanged correspondence concerning

5440-418: The image of Minerva at its centre, along with a "straw-coloured" sash worn across the chest from the right shoulder. The motto of the Order would be "Omnia posthabita scientiae" (in Latin , 'Everything comes after science'). Once the King's proposal was made public, however, arguments within intellectual circles over who would be most deserving of the new order grew so heated that George ultimately dropped

5525-440: The joint Which became gangrenous and stank- A horror beyond redemption. The agony did not diminish. Man could not be man nor God God. The agony Grew. Crow Grinned Crying: "This is my Creation," Flying the black flag of himself. Member of the Order of Merit The Order of Merit (French: Ordre du Mérite ) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms , recognising distinguished service in

5610-414: The last person so honoured. Honorary members form another group, to which there is no numerical limit, though such appointments are rare; individuals from countries in the Commonwealth of Nations that are not headed by King Charles are therefore considered foreigners, and thus are granted only honorary admissions, such as Nelson Mandela (South Africa) and Mother Teresa (India). Upon admission into

5695-423: The matter; it was recorded in his diary that he met Sir Robert Peel on 16 January 1844 to discuss the "idea of institution of a civil Order of Merit" and, three days later, he conferred with the Queen on the subject. Though nothing came of the idea at the time, the concept did not wither and, more than 40 years later, on 5 January 1888, Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury submitted to

5780-429: The medieval Hall unsafe. As well as the Hall, Waterhouse designed a new range of rooms, Red Buildings (1871–1872), in French Renaissance style, designed a new Master's Lodge on the site of Paschal Yard (1873, later to become N staircase), pulled down the old Lodge and the south range of Old Court to open a vista to the chapel, and finally designed a new Library (1877–1878) in the continental Gothic style. The construction of

5865-408: The more genteel latinate sounds. The couple moved to the United States in 1957 so that Plath could take a teaching position at her alma mater, Smith College . During this time, Hughes taught at the University of Massachusetts , Amherst. In 1958, they met artist Leonard Baskin , who would later illustrate many of Hughes's books, including Crow . The couple returned to England in 1959, staying for

5950-468: The name "Sylvia Plath". Plath's poem "The Jailer", in which the speaker condemns her husband's brutality, was included in the 1970 anthology Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement . Poet Robin Morgan published a poem "Arraignment", in which she openly accused Hughes of the battery and murder of Plath. There were lawsuits resulting from the controversy. Morgan's 1972 book Monster , which contained that poem

6035-421: The new library was undertaken by Rattee and Kett . Waterhouse was dismissed as architect in 1878 and succeeded by George Gilbert Scott , who, after extending the chapel, provided additional accommodation with the construction of New Court in 1881, with letters on a series of shields along the string course above the first floor spelling out the text from Psalm 127:1, "Nisi Dominus aedificat domum…" ("Except

6120-580: The other side of Trumpington Street. The project is to enlarge the size of the college by a third, with new social spaces, rooms and offices. Pembroke's enclosed grounds include garden areas. Highlights include "The Orchard" (a patch of semi-wild ground in the centre of the college), an impressive row of Plane Trees and a bowling green , re-turfed in 1996, which is reputed to be among the oldest in continual use in Europe. The arms of Pembroke College were officially recorded in 1684. The formal blazon combines

6205-529: The poem "Out"). Hughes noted, "my first six years shaped everything". Hughes loved hunting and fishing, swimming, and picnicking with his family. He attended the Burnley Road School until he was seven. After his family moved to Mexborough , he attended Schofield Street Junior School. His parents ran a newsagent's and tobacconist's shop in the town. In Poetry in Making , Hughes recalled that he

6290-537: The possible creation of an order of merit, though nothing came of the idea. Later, Queen Victoria , her courtiers , and politicians alike, thought that a new order, based on the Prussian order Pour le Mérite , would make up for the insufficient recognition offered by the established honours system to achievement outside public service, in fields such as art, music, literature, industry and science. Victoria's husband, Albert, Prince Consort , took an interest in

6375-447: The reigning monarch of the realms, currently Charles III , with the assistance of his private secretaries; the order has thus been described as "quite possibly, the most prestigious honour one can receive on planet Earth." Within the limited membership is a designated military division, with its own unique insignia; though it has not been abolished, it is currently unpopulated, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma having been

6460-414: The reverse bears the royal cypher of the reigning monarch in gold. The insignia for the military grouping is distinguished by a pair of crossed swords behind the central disk. The ribbon of the Order of Merit is divided into two stripes of red and blue. The neck ribbon is 50mm in width, while the ribbon bar width is the standard British 32mm size for military or civilian wear. Men wear their badges on

6545-470: The truth about Sylvia Plath seriously. But I learned my lesson early... If I tried too hard to tell them exactly how something happened, in the hope of correcting some fantasy, I was quite likely to be accused of trying to suppress Free Speech. In general, my refusal to have anything to do with the Plath Fantasia has been regarded as an attempt to suppress Free Speech... The Fantasia about Sylvia Plath

6630-573: The veil of poetry is rent and the walls of learning broken." Nicholas Hughes , the son of Hughes and Plath, died by suicide in his home in Alaska on 16 March 2009. He had suffered from depression. Carol Hughes announced in January 2013 that she would write a memoir of their marriage. The Times headlined its story "Hughes's widow breaks silence to defend his name" and observed that "for more than 40 years she has kept her silence, never once joining in

6715-596: Was banned. Underground, pirated editions of it were published. Other radical feminists threatened to kill Hughes in Plath's name. In 1989, with Hughes under public attack, a battle raged in the letters pages of The Guardian and The Independent . In The Guardian on 20 April 1989, Hughes wrote the article "The Place Where Sylvia Plath Should Rest in Peace": In the years soon after [Plath's] death, when scholars approached me, I tried to take their apparently serious concern for

6800-547: Was being labelled as the poet of the wild, writing only about animals. Hughes began to seriously explore myth and esoteric practices including shamanism, alchemy and Buddhism, with The Tibetan Book of the Dead being a particular focus in the early 1960s. He believed that imagination could heal dualistic splits in the human psyche, and poetry was the language of that work. Hughes and Plath had two children, Frieda Hughes (b. 1960) and Nicholas Hughes (1962–2009). In 1961, they bought

6885-461: Was cremated in Exeter . Speaking at the funeral, fellow poet Seamus Heaney , said: "No death outside my immediate family has left me feeling more bereft. No death in my lifetime has hurt poets more. He was a tower of tenderness and strength, a great arch under which the least of poetry's children could enter and feel secure. His creative powers were, as Shakespeare said, still crescent. By his death,

6970-429: Was expanded to include members of the Commonwealth of Nations that are not realms. The order has always been open to women, Florence Nightingale being the first woman to receive the honour, in 1907. Several individuals have refused admission into the Order of Merit, including Rudyard Kipling , A. E. Housman , and George Bernard Shaw . Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , remains the youngest person ever inducted into

7055-609: Was fascinated by animals, collecting, and drawing toy lead creatures. He acted as retriever when his elder brother gamekeeper shot magpies , owls, rats, and curlews . He grew up amid the harsh realities of working farms in the valleys and on the moors. During his time in Mexborough, he explored Manor Farm at Old Denaby . He later said that he came to know it "better than any place on earth". His earliest poem "The Thought Fox", and earliest story "The Rain Horse", were recollections of

7140-433: Was studying at Cambridge on a Fulbright Scholarship . She had already published extensively, having won various awards, and had come to the party especially to meet Hughes and his fellow poet Lucas Myers. Hughes and Plath felt a great mutual attraction, but they did not meet again for another month, when Plath passed through London on her way to Paris. She visited him again on her return three weeks later. Cold, delicately as

7225-901: Was the only wedding guest. The couple spent most of their honeymoon at Benidorm , in Alicante on Spain's Costa Blanca . Hughes's biographers note that Plath did not tell him about her history of depression and suicide attempts until much later. Reflecting later in Birthday Letters , Hughes commented that early on he could see chasms of difference between himself and Plath, but that in the first years of their marriage they both felt happy and supported, avidly pursuing their writing careers. On returning to Cambridge, they lived at 55 Eltisley Avenue. That year they each had poems published in The Nation , Poetry , and The Atlantic . Plath typed up Hughes's manuscript for his collection Hawk in

#160839