The poems

The fifteen poems chosen by the examination board for your exam are a selection from across Ted Hughes's career as a poet. 

For copyright reasons, we cannot reproduce on this site the texts of the actual poems, but the texts of some poems are legally available online (see links where so).  

All the poems you are studying for your IGCSE are included in Ted Hughes New Selected Poems, 1957 - 1994.

here is the list of poems which are set for the examination in 2025

(click on the poem for the link to a dedicated page for that poem - the links to each poem, in alphabetical order, are also available via the main menu)

The poems are arranged below in their order of appearance in the book (details above); the number following the name of each poem is the page-number.

The Thought Fox     (p. 3)

The Jaguar     (p. 4)

The Horses  (p. 7)

Wind     (p. 14)

Relic     (p. 29)

Hawk Roosting     (p. 29)

Cat and Mouse     (p. 33)

Snowdrop     (p. 40)

The Harvest Moon  (p. 142)

Football at Slack  (p. 157)

Roe-Deer     (p. 181)

A Memory    (p. 191)

Telegraph Wires   (p. 270)

Anniversary   (p. 291)

The Other  (p. 305)

This selection of poems includes poetry on a variety of subjects, but centres on one of Hughes's most important interests - the natural world.  Hughes's response to the natural world is striking and individual.  You will discover that Hughes presents nature not as a pretty or comforting antidote to everyday human life, but as an elemental force whose presence is both inspiring and unsettling.

For many readers, their understanding of nature is changed and enriched by reading Hughes's work.  Perhaps this will be so for you!

We recommend you read the poems aloud rather than silently - these poems are written to be spoken and heard.  In the 'other resources' section of this site, there are links to recordings of Ted Hughes reading - you can hear how powerfully he read his own work, and you will therefore be able to comprehend how much there is to be understood through listening, rather than silent reading.

Please remember that the best poems are those which germinate in the imagination of their readers and give rise to different interpretations.  Your responses, as long as they are informed by your own thoughtful and informed reading, are valid.  You may find your understanding changes over time as you get to know the poems better.

It can often be that poems acquire meanings which were not imagined by the poets who wrote them - that is one of the many ways that poems by a writer from the past can continue to capture the imagination of readers today in new and exciting ways.

How to use the notes

• These notes are designed to make you read the poems carefully, to think about them imaginatively, and to appreciate just how powerful and distinctive a writer Ted Hughes was.

• The notes are not intended to summarise 'what a poem is about', nor to provide you with sentences to memorise for inclusion in your exam answers.

• Instead, we hope that the notes will help you to explore, to understand, and to enter into an imaginative process in which your thinking and response to the poems are sharpened.

• The exam will expect you to write with insight, imagination and precision in response to these poems, and so the notes are designed to help you develop your understanding and responses so that you are able to do well in your exam.

• We suggest you keep electronic written or spoken notes on each poem, in which you record your understanding and responses.  You may find the questions we provide helpful in structuring your responses.

• We particularly recommend reading more widely - and so the notes on each poem include suggestions for wider reading.  As you read poems on related themes by other poets, you will get a better 'feel' for the unique qualities of Ted Hughes's poetry.

photo

View from the village of Heptonstall, looking towards Stoodley Pike, West Yorkshire, England - photo by James Harding.