"In public, Ted Hughes was shy and reserved, preferring to let his poems speak for him. But when Nick Gammage, a young student fan, wrote to him for help with his dissertation, he was happy to open up about the workings of his imagination and display a more humorous side." Thus writes The London Evening Standard's Olivia Cole, adding the "letters turned into a 20-year correspondence; the poet and Mr. Gammage were friends until Hughes's death in 1998."
Yesterday [Dec. 17], the correspondence between Gammage and Hughes (as well as a revelatory collection of almost 400 rare first editions, many of which sport the poet's personal inscriptions), fetched £39,650 ($68,400) at Sotheby's (London).
Gammage recently elected to share those illuminating memories of the poet by making available his letters which, says he, display the true character and personality of a generous human being with a "brilliant sense of humour and a twinkle in his eye" rather than that "dour private Yorkshireman" persona he'd adopted for the prying -- and often hostile -- eyes of the public. After all, a large portion of the universal population considers Hughs's dalliances outside his marriage with American Sylvia Plath the primary reason one of the world's finest voices was prematurely silenced when she committed suicide the year JFK also met his Maker.
Additionally, Gammage, the editor of The Epic Poise, a celebration of Hughes's life by poets including Seamus Heaney and Sir Andrew Motion, revealed he -- in solidarity with the deceased's surviving family members -- wholeheartedly supports the campaign to honour Hughes in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey, opining the one-time UK Poet Laureate and author of Birthday Letters would be "thrilled": "He really was conscious of the line [of British poets] and of his own place in it. It would mean a lot to him."
Hrm . . . Wonder how much it would have meant to Eliot, Chaucer, Blake, Tennyson, Spenser, Browning, et.al. (considering the following, "Snowdrop," purportedly one of the Crow creator's most magnificent works, simply doesn't, IMO)?:
Now is the globe shrunk tight
Round the mouse's dulled wintering heart
Weasel and crow, as if moulded in brass,
Move through an outer darkness
Not in their right minds,
With the other deaths. She, too, pursues her ends,
Brutal as the stars of this month,
Her pale head heavy as metal.
FYI: Canada's Contemporary Shakespeare, Leonard Cohen -- Who else? -- did, in fact, record a Christmas Hymn, "Silent Night," when that unmistakable baritone could still nail those amazing high notes. This rare clip (among others), lovingly "cleaned" and uploaded by the inimitable OneOf Greg Wells, the genius B'Loser and Mathematician who left us last month for points elsewhere (RIP), may not remain in the public domain forever; hence, your best bet if you have the space on your hard drive? Right click on "Save Target As" and download this keeper. N-Joie!
FWIW: Since your humble bloggadociotica collates the hotly contested yet eloquently argued Top-Ten Poetry Books of the Noughties, her own work cannot be included among same; but, thank you so much for your aw-shucks 'n' left-handed e-comps. Deadline for your single-author single-book choice including translations published 1999-2009? Monday, Dec. 28. Whoa . . . Do keep 'em coming (with or without brief justifying 'graph). Right now, the Brits lead while the Americans require more cheerleaders, IMO. Send your singularious selections to jfemail@judithfitzgerald.ca, SVP/TIA.
HOHOHO: Coming next year to better browsers near you? An intimate e-view with BC's gifted novelist, playwright, essayist and poet, Daphne Marlatt; Poetry & Poets in Rags's stylish O/O, Rus Bowden, gets down to brass facts concerning the challenges inherent in keeping one of the cyberworld's essential poetry 'sites up and running; a report on *the poet* -- Guess who :)? -- pleased beyond belief to carry the Olympic Torch @ 1 p.m. in New Liskeard on New Year's Eve Day; and, natch, the announcement of The Top-Ten Poetry Books of The Noughties . . . Stay toned!
C Y'ALL NEXT YEAR: To each and every cherished regular, reader, rabble-rouser, contributer, oddmirer, troll-op and commentarian -- You know who you are (and aren't) -- we @ "In Other Words" extend our genuine best regards with all gung-ho-ho-ho-hopes 2010 proves far superior to you know when . . . Finally, to close this so-not-divine 2009, might we urge you to consider a non-perishable donation to your local food bank (which, BTW, can never collect enough light bulbs, TP, pet treats, batteries, dish liquid, fuses, canned goods, PT, etc.)? Until then, merci et salut to yours 'n' YOU!
