In addition, whilst evidence that Hermetic myths have directly influenced Hughes’ handling of Remains of Elmet is to be found throughout the sequence, his opening poem, ‘Where The Mothers’ ( ROE.10) provides an early and clear example of this. Using rhythms and sounds which capture the wildness of the elements as they are commonly experienced on the pictured moors, Hughes describes the disembodied souls as they, like the wind and the rain, howl through heaven and Pour down onto earth If the events of ‘Two’ describe, as Hughes said, “ the closing of Paradise” for him, then his choice of ‘Mount Zion’ as the poem which immediately follows ‘Two’ in the sequence indicates something of the nature of the war which now “ opened” in his life. It was a war against the all–pervasive influence of this ‘ cowled, Satanic Majesty” which overshadowed the valley, threatening to destroy all imagination and joy; a war between the inner and outer worlds of Mankind, of which the World War which took his brother from him was but an extension. This is the lifelong conflict which Hughes sought to end, not only for himself but for society too, trying, through his poetry, to counteract the growing sterility.

Leeds City Council leader James Lewis said: “This is an absolutely fascinating discovery which paints a captivating picture of life in ancient Yorkshire.The condition of these souls seeking material rebirth, is linked within the 13 lines of this poem to the fallen condition of our world (which is literally a “ star–broken stone”, separated from the sun but totally subject to its power) and to that of Hughes’ own small part of the world, the Calder Valley: it is an unchanging, changing condition of death and rebirth as part of Nature’s cycles, and it is symbolized by the “ cradle–grave” throughout this Elmet sequence. One further important aspect of Remains of Elmet has yet to be examined, and that is Hughes’ own participation in the sequence. Not only did he create the imaginative rituals of the poetry and manipulate the energies so as to effect healing and re–integration, but he specifically included himself in this process. In so doing, Hughes deliberately subjected himself to the energies and to the ritual of re–integration which he attempted. Figuratively and psychologically he returned to his formative years and re–lived the events and situations to which he was exposed, thus facilitating a healing catharsis. After the unification of the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria, the Northumbrians invaded and overran Elmet in 616 or 617. It is not known definitely what prompted the invasion, but it has been suggested that the causus belli was the death by poisoning of the Northumbrian nobleman Hereric, who was an exiled member of the Northumbrian royal house residing in Elmet. It may have been that Hereric had been poisoned by his hosts and Edwin of Northumbria invaded in retaliation; or perhaps Edwin himself had Hereric poisoned and invaded Elmet to punish Ceredig for harbouring him.

After the publication of her first books— Rebecca the Lurcher (1973) and The Oldest Road: An Exploration of the Ridgeway (1975), co-authored with J.R.L. Anderson—she was a prolific publisher, working mainly in the landscape tradition to great acclaim and becoming the nation's best-known landscape photographer. The Oldest Road sold over 25,000 copies. [4] Her work was informed by the sense of ecological crisis present in late 1970s and 1980s England. [ citation needed] Godwin's archive, including approximately 11,000 exhibition prints, the entire contents of her studio, and correspondence with some of her subjects, was given to the British Library [3] Publications [ edit ] It is a measure of Hughes’ skill that such retrospective interpretations of his early feelings and actions did not interfere with his ability to re–create his initial spontaneity. In ‘Under the World’s Wild Rims’, for example, we share the boy’s impressions of the weird, “ desecrated”, dust–filled landscape through which he walks to school. Compared to the world’s ‘wild rims’, this was a strange world, deathly and unnatural, strewn with “ steel objects” that seemed “ magical” and “ futuristic” in their unfamiliarity, and leaking a “ warm horror”, so that it both repelled and fascinated him. Instinctively the boy responded to these conflicting emotions with a campaign of stealthy and pleasurable destruction, smashing, “ one by one”, the regimented, guardian rows of “ glass skylights” that seemed to watch him. Remains of Elmet - The Ted Hughes Society Journal". Thetedhughessociety.org . Retrieved 10 December 2017.Landmarks is a glorious celebration of the work of Fay Godwin, one of the UK ’s most respected and influential photographers. Drawing on the whole body of her photographic practice of the last thirty years, it includes literary portraits, humorous snapshots, and rural and urban landscapes, as well as the intimate series of colour images, Glassworks, that marks the most recent evolution of her work. Poet Simon Armitage introduces the book, and an essay by photographic historian Roger Taylor explores and illuminates both Godwin’s career and her approach to photography. As Hughes’ certainty about this strengthened, he came to see the hunting of poems not only as a way of immersing himself in Natures energies, but also as means by which more of such healing energies might be returned to the world. He was convinced, too, of the power of the imaginative arts to both destroy and heal. Throughout his working life he presented these views many times: in particular, his discussion of Crow with Egbert Faas in 1971 ( UU.197–208); his two essays on ‘Myth and Education’ ( WP.136–153 3); and his ‘Panegyric and Ode: The Hanged Man and the Dragonfly’ ( WP.84–102), express them forcefully.

The area to the western Calder Valley side of Elmet is the subject of a 1979 book combining photography and poetry, the Remains of Elmet by Ted Hughes and Fay Godwin. [16] [17] The book was republished by Faber and Faber in 1994 as Elmet, with a third of the book being new poems and photographs. [ citation needed] The Library's buildings remain fully open but some services are limited, including access to collection items. We're I had no aspirations to become a landscape photographer at all. In fact it was portraiture that was my beginning, I suppose. I have always been a very keen walker, though, and I often took a camera with me on my walks. But I was, and still am, an avid reader and so when I first started I chose to photograph many of the great writers in this country to try and earn a living. In general, however, Remains of Elmet impressed its reviewers with its power to evoke the bleak, rugged and haunting beauty of the Calder Valley. Fay Godwin’s photographs were universally praised, and Hughes’ poems were variously described as “ the most restrained, beautiful and unobtrusively effective poems” 5, “ his most approachable volume” for a long time 6; and “ Landscape poetry” 7. Few reviewers regarded the sequence as much more than Hughes’ nostalgic reaction to Fay Godwin’s photographs. Only one discerned any connecting thread linking the poems, beyond their common concern with the Calder Valley. Even Gifford and Roberts characterise Remains of Elmet as “ a social history [written] as a natural history”, although they did believe that in this book Hughes was “ writing at the height of his powers” and they remark on the frequency with which he achieved “ complete unity between the vision of the poem and its language” ( G/R 239, 249). Through these elders, through his attunement to the raw elemental freedom of the moors, and through his affinity with those, like the Brontes, who shared his passions, Hughes first learned to listen and respond to the music within himself which connected him with his roots and with Nature. By these means, he counteracted the destructive aspects of his early environment. Unlike the puppet singers, however, Hughes became aware of his ability to hear and transmit this music; and, alerted by his visions and by watching the death throes of the Calder Valley, he came to believe in its importance to Mankind, and of the dangers of seeking to repress this valuable link with the energies of the Source.

Records in this Album/Book/Portfolio

Hughes, himself, said in a BBC Radio 3 broadcast that he did not want “ to write a history” (BBC 3 May 1980); but, apart from that, he did nothing to expand these views of his Elmet sequence, claiming only that Godwin’s photographs “ moved me to write the accompanying poems” ( ROE. Introduction). Similarly, in his note in Selected Poems 1957–81, he described the poems as “ texts to accompany photographs, by Fay Godwin, of the Calder Valley and environs in West Yorkshire, where I spent my early years, and where I have lived occasionally since” ( SP.238). As the opening poem of Remains of Elmet, ‘Where the Mothers’ establishes the several themes which will be linked throughout the book. The pagan philosophy and mood of the poem, the hints of Nordic mythology, and the reference to the Earth as a “ star–broken stone”, all establish the historical context from which the present day Calder Valley evolved. Here, Hughes re–creates the British Celtic kingdom of Elmet which “ For centuries was considered a more or less uninhabitable wilderness, a notorious refuge for criminals, a hideout for refugees” ( ROE.Introductory Note). Always, in his encounter with the elements, the reward Hughes seeks is renewal: a shamanic, alchemical, re–creation such as occurs in ‘Go Fishing’ ( R.42). There, the poem is both descriptive and directive: “ Go fishing”, Hughes tells us, “ Join water, wade into underbeing”. We, like Hughes, must enter the timeless water–world, be “ assumed into the womb”, healed, “ supplanted by mud and leaves and pebbles”, “ dissolved”, “ dismembered”, and made part of the cosmic flux –“ everything circling and flowing and hover–still”. Thus, we may be re–born “ new and nameless” into the urgent world of “ time” and “ people”. Again, in this process, the human form is exchanged for that of fish – is supplanted By sudden rainbow monster–structures