Because I'm going there tomorrow (it's Ted Hughes's birthplace and the name's beautifully Scandinavian) for a reading by the wonderful Simon Armitage, who's giving performances as he walks along the Pennine Way.
Showing posts with label Ted Hughes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ted Hughes. Show all posts
Friday, 23 July 2010
Monday, 23 March 2009
Man hands on misery to man
Sylvia Plath's and Ted Hughes's son, Nicholas, has killed himself. We don't know the complexities of his life, but he couldn't have had the best of starts - mother killed herself when he was one year old. This seems to sum it up:
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.
Philip Larkin, 'This Be The Verse'.
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