48,951 research outputs found
The elegies of Ted Hughes
Get PDFThe purpose of this study is to make the case that Ted Hughes (1930-1998) is one of the pre-eminent elegists writing in English in the latter half of the twentieth century. Whilst his poetry has been widely criticised for its apparent preoccupation with violence and death, it is puzzling that the links these topics have in common with elegy have never been clearly verified. This might be because Hughes's elegies do not appear to bear the characteristics frequently associated with traditional poetic laments; however, as this study shows, closer scrutiny reveals not only many similarities, but also acts of resistance within the broader scope of elegy. Drawing on both established and contemporary critical debates surrounding Hughes and elegy, this study undertakes a comprehensive reading of the poet's major works from The Hawk in the Rain to Birthday Letters, whilst also paying attention to limited editions of his verse, including Recklings, Capriccio and Howls & Whispers. Posthumous publications, including the Collected Poems. Selected Translations and Letters of Ted Hughes, are accounted for. so that (alongside the chronological reading of the poems) Hughes's development as an elegist is fully realised. One of the aims of the thesis is to demonstrate that the poet's elegies are unified in presenting what I term the ‘actual'; that is to say, that Hughes does not fabricate sensations or forge experiences that purport to be beyond the realm of recognisable human endeavour. This I term his 'unfalsifying dream’. This is striking because quite often traditional elegies appear to present the opposite: a language which is ๐mate and images which are close to beatifying the deceased, putting them at a remove from human experience and existence. 'The Hawk in the Rain' is used to illustrate Hughes's theoretical position, especially in the case of his earlier war elegies and the circumstances of Remains of Elmet and Moortown Diary. He is both the observational, seemingly dispassionate poet (the hawk), capable of a detaching himself from the experience he wishes to relay in his verse, and yet, he is also the wanderer 'in the rain, one who is immersed in the momentous instant of his own language and experience. Like his personas, Hughes is divided. He is complicit with many of elegy's practices and traditions, but he is also a reformer and renovator of elegy, writing invigorating verse which brings the realities of mortality closer to the reader. In doing so, he reaffirms the significance of life and how this life might be better lived in closer harmony to poetry and contemporary ecological urgencies. 'The Elegies of Ted Hughes' aims to prove that far from being just a 'poet of nature', Hughes has been an exemplary elegist in our own time
"Paradise without labour": how oil missed its utopian moment
No full textSubmitted for inclusion in: Michael Watts and Arthur Mason, eds. Oil-Talk: Retelling the Political and Cultural Economy of Oil and Gas
Oral History Interview with David Hughes
No full textThe National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with David Hughes. Hughes joined the Navy in February 1941 and was assigned to the USS Northampton (CA-26)as a coxswain. He went ashore at Pearl Harbor two weeks before the attack, while the Northampton traveled on to Wake Island. On the morning of the attack, he was in a whaleboat at Battleship Row. He went ashore and hid behind a tree until the attack ended, at which time he began transporting officers and wounded personnel in his whaleboat. On one of his trips, he carried men with acetylene torches to the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and overheard an engineer warn them about the danger of depleting oxygen, which ultimately killed several men. Hughes spent a short time aboard the USS Hornet (CV-8) and describes the sea conditions during the Doolittle Raid launch. He was back aboard the Northampton for the Battle of Tassafaronga and abandoned ship when it was torpedoed. He returned to the States as an aviation machinist’s mate and towed targets for VJ-2, VJ-7, and VJ-12 utility squadrons on the West Coast. He did the same at Henderson Field, where he also served as George Burns' personal driver during his USO tour. Hughes returned home and was discharged at the end of the war
“I've known rivers”: Langston Hughes, Jacques Roumain, and the emergence of Caribbean modernism
Get PDFCentering the analysis on three poems by Jacques Roumain—including two published in Haiti-Journal in 1931, the same year Roumain first met Langston Hughes, “Quand bat le tam-tam,” which Hughes himself would eventually translate, and “Langston Hughes”—this article traces the chronology of encounters between Hughes and Roumain, calling attention to their shared affinities with poets such as Walt Whitman and Jules Laforgue, in order to explore the dynamics of influence between Hughes and Roumain, and to deepen our understanding of Hughes's contribution to the emergence of Caribbean modernism. Drawing on groundbreaking scholarship by Brent Hayes Edwards, Carolyn Fowler, Arnold Rampersad, J. Michael Dash, Michel Fabre, Madhuri Deshmukh, Henry Louis Gates, Homi Bhabha, Seth Moglen, and others, the author argues against a conceptualization of influence as mimicry, opening possibilities for research on Hughes's placement within the global cross-currents of high modernist and avant-garde influence in the New World.Accepted manuscrip
Michael Rodriguez interviews fiction writer Michael Kimball
No full textAuthor Michael Kimball talks about moving away from Michigan to become a successful writer, his education, the fiction reading series he has started in Baltimore, the life-story-on-postcard project, and his book "Dear everybody." Kimball is interviewed by Michigan State University Librarian Michael Rodriguez for the Michigan State University Libraries' Michigan Writers Series
Wayne P. Hughes, Jr. Interview (MORS)
Get PDFInterviewers: Brown, Gerald G.; Garrambone, Michael W.; Sheldon, Robert S. Interview location(s): Monterey, California [Hughes and Brown] and via telephone [Garrambone and Sheldon
Michael Rodriguez interviews author Paul Clemens
No full textAuthor Paul Clemens talks about his book "Made in Detroit," the genre of memoir, and writing about race. Clemens is interviewed by Michigan State University Librarian Michael Rodriguez for the MSU Libraries' Michigan Writers Series. Held in the MSU Main Library
Oral History Interview with David Hughes
No full textThe National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with David Hughes. Hughes joined the Navy in February 1941 and was assigned to the USS Northampton (CA-26)as a coxswain. He went ashore at Pearl Harbor two weeks before the attack, while the Northampton traveled on to Wake Island. On the morning of the attack, he was in a whaleboat at Battleship Row. He went ashore and hid behind a tree until the attack ended, at which time he began transporting officers and wounded personnel in his whaleboat. On one of his trips, he carried men with acetylene torches to the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and overheard an engineer warn them about the danger of depleting oxygen, which ultimately killed several men. Hughes spent a short time aboard the USS Hornet (CV-8) and describes the sea conditions during the Doolittle Raid launch. He was back aboard the Northampton for the Battle of Tassafaronga and abandoned ship when it was torpedoed. He returned to the States as an aviation machinist’s mate and towed targets for VJ-2, VJ-7, and VJ-12 utility squadrons on the West Coast. He did the same at Henderson Field, where he also served as George Burns' personal driver during his USO tour. Hughes returned home and was discharged at the end of the war
Michael Rodriguez interviews author Tom Springer
No full textAuthor Tom Springer is interviewed about his writing career and his newest book "Looking for hickories". Springer talks about his career following after earning an Environmental Journalism degree from Michigan State University. He calls his genre "creative non-fiction" and explains how he weaves his memories into his books about life in rural and wild Michigan. Part of the Michigan State University Libraries' Michigan Writers Series. Springer is interviewed by Librarian Michael Rodriguez
Michael Rodriguez interviews author Gary Gildner
No full textAuthor Gary Gildner explains why he left his tenured teaching position to move to Idaho to became a full-time writer of poetry. Gildner talks about donating his personal papers to Michigan State University Libraries' Special Collections, his writing style and how he approaches writing. Gildner is interviewed by MSU Librarian Michael Rodriguez for the MSU Libraries' Michigan Writer Series. Held at the MSU Main Library
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