Subseries 2.4b
Book-length prose, 1967-1995
Box 87: folder 4 - Box 112: folder 3; OP8
Scope and Content Note
The subseries contains manuscript and types drafts of book-length prose by Ted Hughes from 1967-1995. A large part of this subseries consists of works relating to Hughes's interest in William Shakespeare. The introduction Hughes wrote for A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse was the genesis of his ideas on Shakespeare and myth, which eventually came to fruition in Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being, published over twenty years later. Hughes's selection of Shakespeare's verse was first published in 1971 in America by Doubleday (as With Fairest Flower While Summer Lasts: Poems from Shakespeare) and then six months later by Faber (as A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse) in the UK. TH's introduction was the same for both editions, although arranged differently. Twenty years later, the selection was republished, first by Faber (as A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse), followed quickly by the Ecco Press in America (as The Essential Shakespeare). Hughes revised the introductory essay for these 1991 editions, but again, they are the same for the US and the UK editions.
As with much of Ted Hughes's work, Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being (SGCB) went through an exhaustive drafting process. Its beginnings were in the introduction he wrote in 1971 for his selection of Shakespeare's verse, and indeed TH included in the SGCB archive some initial rewrites of his Essential Shakespeare introduction. "[T]his rewrite eventually developed – through these manuscripts" (TH's index note, Box 21) into a series of letters Hughes wrote to Donya Feuer from 23 April to 14 June 1990. In a note attached to the archive, TH writes that "Danya Feuers [sic] works with Ingmar Bergman in the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. She is an old friend who has done a great deal of work with Shakespeare – a great deal of work, toe [sic], in developing my ideas about the plays with Swedish actors." As he notes in the "Foreword" to SGCB, "it [occurred] to me that if I anatomized what I had identified as Shakespeare's myth, as it revealed itself in each work, and followed through what are to me its fascinating evolutions, and set it all out in letters to Donya Feuer, bit by bit, as simply as possible, who knows, maybe something would emerge. Those letters became this book" (xiii). In the letters to Feuer, Hughes has already divided his project into five broad sections. Thereafter he begins to divide up these sections into smaller "chapters," as many as 80 of them, eventually arranged into six sections (instead of the initial five – see 24 July 1991 letter to his copy editor, Gillian Bate), and then further arranged into three very broad "Parts." In a letter of 30 July 1991, Bate recommended that he remove the small numbered chapters and instead refer to the six sections as chapters, still under three broad Parts. This is the general final structure of the published version. There are seven complete typescript drafts of SGCB in the collection. For purposes of differentiation, they are numbered TS 1 – 7 according to their apparent order of composition.
Arrangement Note
Arranged by date of publication.
Poetry in the Making (1967, 1969; US version called Poetry Is, pub. 1970) | ||
Box | Folder | Content |
---|---|---|
87 | 4 | "Capturing Animals," MS and TS drafts |
87 | 5 | "Introduction" [See also Subseries 2.6: Children's Writing, Shaggy and Spotty] |
87 | 6 | "Learning to Think," TS draft |
87 | 7 | "Meet my Folks," TS draft |
87 | 8 | "Moon Creature," TS draft |
87 | 9 | "Wind and Weather," MS and TS drafts |
87 | 10 | "Words and Experience" (epilogue), MS and TS drafts |
87 | 11 | "Writing a Novel: Beginning," TS draft |
87 | 12 | "Writing a Novel: Going on," TS draft |
87 | 13 | "Writing about Landscape," MS and TS drafts |
87 | 14 | "Writing about People," TS draft. |
87 | 15 | Appendices and misc. poems, MS and TS |
87 | 16 | Poetry in the Making: Draft of title page and table of contents |
87 | 17 | Poetry in the Making: Galley proof |
A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1971, 1991) | ||
87 | 18 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1971): "Introduction," MS and TS drafts |
87 | 19 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1971): "Introduction," MS and TS drafts |
87 | 20 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1971): "Introduction," MS and TS drafts |
88 | 1 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1971): "Introduction," MS and TS drafts |
88 | 2 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1971): Complete draft of volume |
88 | 3 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1991): "Introduction," MS and TS drafts [mostly on salmon paper] |
88 | 4 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1991): "Introduction," MS and TS drafts |
88 | 5 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1991): "Introduction," MS and TS drafts |
88 | 6 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse(1991): "Introduction," MS and TS drafts |
88 | 7 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1991): "Introduction," various TS drafts |
89 | 1 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1991): "Introduction," marked "Final" and dated 18 February 1991, TS |
89 | 2 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1991): "Introduction," TS, and some verse selections |
89 | 3 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1991): "Introduction," TS, annotated by Craig Raine |
89 | 4 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1991): Corrected Faber proofs, pp. 1 - 100 |
89 | 5 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1991): Corrected Faber proofs, pp. 101 - end |
89 | 6 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1991): Faber galley proofs |
89 | 7 | A Choice of Shakespeare's Verse (1991): Faber galley proofs |
89 | 8 | The Essential Shakespeare: Corrected TS [sent with letter of 2 July 1991 from Cathy Jewell (Ecco Press) to TH] |
90 | 1 | The Essential Shakespeare: Corrected galley proof [sent with letter of 30 August 1991 from Jewell to TH] |
90 | 2 | The Essential Shakespeare: Corrected galley proof of "Introduction" [sent with letter of 4 October 1991 from Jewell to TH] |
90 | 3 | The Essential Shakespeare: Related correspondence, particularly between Jewell and TH [17 letters]; includes a 23-page letter of explanation and corrections from TH to Jewell, TS |
A Dancer to God (1992) | ||
90 | 4 | Various MSS and some TS drafts of T. S. Eliot: A Tribute [published 1987 [A93], eventually became chapter one of ADTG] (1) |
90 | 5 | Various MSS and some TS drafts of T. S. Eliot: A Tribute (2) |
90 | 6 | Various MSS and some TS drafts of T. S. Eliot: A Tribute (3) |
90 | 7 | "A Dancer to God," TS. (This TS has title replaced with "The Poetic Self," the title for essay's republication in Winter Pollen) [See also Subseries 2.4: Essays, Reviews, Talks, "Unidentified (response to James Wood review talking about T.S. Eliot and anti-semitism)"] |
90 | 8 | "The Truly Great," for unveiling of T. S. Eliot's blue plaque on 26 September 1986, MS and TS drafts |
90 | 9 | "Notes" section, TS and MS [ MS is a longer version which discusses the Arvon foundation and TH's critique of English Literature as an academic discipline] |
90 | 10 | Corrected proofs |
Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being (1992, 1993) | ||
91 | 1 | MS and TS drafts of "King Lear" letter to Donya Feuer |
91 | 3 | Diagrams |
91 | 4 | "Notes to Shakespeare sequence" |
91 | 5 | MS and TS drafts of letters to Donya Feuer (Hughes #20) (1) |
91 | 6 | MS drafts of letters to Donya Feuer (Hughes #20) (2) |
91 | 7 | MS drafts of letters to Donya Feuer (Hughes #20) (3) |
91 | 8 | MS drafts of letters to Donya Feuer (Hughes #20) (4) |
91 | 9 | MS drafts of letters to Donya Feuer (Hughes #20) (5) |
91 | 10 | MS drafts of letters to Donya Feuer (Hughes #20) (6) |
91 | 11 | MS drafts of letters to Donya Feuer (Hughes #20) (7) |
91 | 12 | MS drafts of letters to Donya Feuer (Hughes #20) (8) |
92 | 1 | Early MSS Drafts |
92 | 2 | Early MSS Drafts |
92 | 3 | Early MSS Drafts |
92 | 4 | Early MSS Drafts |
92 | 5 | Early MSS Drafts |
92 | 6 | Early MSS Drafts |
92 | 7 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
93 | 1 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
93 | 2 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
93 | 3 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
93 | 4 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
93 | 5 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
93 | 6 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
94 | 1 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
94 | 2 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
94 | 3 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
94 | 4 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
94 | 5 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
94 | 6 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
95 | 1 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
95 | 2 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
95 | 3 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
95 | 4 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
95 | 5 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
95 | 6 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
96 | 1 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
96 | 2 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
96 | 3 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
96 | 4 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
96 | 5 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
96 | 6 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
96 | 7 | MS and TS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
96 | 8 | MS and TS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
97 | 1 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
97 | 2 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
97 | 3 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
97 | 4 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
97 | 5 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
97 | 6 | MS drafts of SGCB, including drafts of letters to Feuer |
97 | 7 | MS draft of SGCB [Foreword and Introduction] |
97 | 8 | MS draft of SGCB [Section 1] |
97 | 9 | MS draft of SGCB [Sections 2-11] |
98 | 1 | MS and TS drafts of SGCB [Section 12] |
98 | 2 | MS and TS drafts of SGCB [Sections 14-24] |
98 | 3 | MS and TS drafts of SGCB [Section 25] |
98 | 4 | MS and TS drafts of SGCB [Sections 26-30] |
98 | 5 | MS and TS drafts of SGCB [Sections 31-40] |
98 | 6 | MS and TS drafts of SGCB [Sections 41-50] |
98 | 7 | MS and TS drafts of SGCB [Sections 51-58] |
99 | 1 | Letters to Donya Feuer: Section I, 23 - 26 April, TS |
99 | 2 | Letters to Donya Feuer: Section I, 27 April - 3 May, TS |
99 | 3 | Letters to Donya Feuer: Section II, 4 - 11 May, TS |
99 | 4 | Letters to Donya Feuer: Section II, 12 - 17 May, TS |
99 | 5 | Letters to Donya Feuer: Section III, 18 May - 26 May, TS |
99 | 6 | Letters to Donya Feuer: Section III, 27 May - 2 June, TS |
99 | 7 | Letters to Donya Feuer: Section IV [3 - 6 June 1990], TS |
99 | 8 | Letters to Donya Feuer: Section V [8 - 14 June 1990], TS |
100 | 1 | Proofs marked with pencil by Craig and Li Raine |
100 | 2 | TS 1: Complete TS (Foreword, Introduction, Sections 1-15 of 58) |
100 | 3 | TS 1: Complete TS (Sections 17-40 of 58) |
100 | 4 | TS 1: Complete TS (Sections 41-58 of 58) |
100 | 5 | TS 2: Complete TS (Sections A-R of 59) |
100 | 6 | TS 2: Complete TS (Sections 1-11 of 59) |
101 | 1 | TS 2: Complete TS (Sections 14-30 of 59) |
101 | 2 | TS 2: Complete TS (Sections 31-48 of 59) |
101 | 3 | TS 2: Complete TS (Sections 49-58 plus postscript and appendices of 59) |
101 | 4 | TS 3: Complete TS, 1 of 5 (59 chapters, appendices, postscript) |
101 | 5 | TS 3: Complete TS, 2 of 5 (59 chapters, appendices, postscript) |
101 | 6 | TS 3: Complete TS, 3 of 5 (59 chapters, appendices, postscript) |
101 | 7 | TS 3: Complete TS, 4 of 5 (59 chapters, appendices, postscript) |
102 | 1 | TS 3: Complete TS, 5 of 5 (59 chapters, appendices, postscript) |
102 | 2 | TS 4: Complete TS, 1 of 4 (59 chapters, appendices, postscript) |
102 | 3 | TS 4: Complete TS, 2 of 4 (59 chapters, appendices, postscript) |
102 | 4 | TS 4: Complete TS, 3 of 4 (59 chapters, appendices, postscript) |
102 | 5 | TS 4: Complete TS, 4 of 4 (59 chapters, appendices, postscript) |
102 | 6 | TS 5: Complete TS, 1 of 4 (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 675pp) [letter to Julie Armstrong inserted] |
103 | 1 | TS 5: Complete TS, 2 of 4 (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 675pp) [letter to Julie Armstrong inserted] |
103 | 2 | TS 5: Complete TS, 3 of 4 (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 675pp) [letter to Julie Armstrong inserted] |
103 | 3 | TS 5: Complete TS, 4 of 4 (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 675pp) [letter to Julie Armstrong inserted] |
103 | 4 | TS 6, pp. 3-149 (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 684pp) |
103 | 5 | TS 6, pp. 150-300 (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 684pp) |
103 | 6 | TS 6, pp. 301-450 (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 684pp) |
103 | 7 | TS 6, pp. 451-601 (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 684pp) |
103 | 8 | TS 6, pp. 602-684 (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 684pp) |
103 | 9 | TS 7: Complete TS, pp. 1-75 (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 684pp) |
103 | 10 | TS 7: Complete TS, pp. 76-200 (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 684pp) |
104 | 1 | TS 7: Complete TS, pp. 201-449 (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 684pp) |
104 | 2 | TS 7: Complete TS, pp. 450-Notes (80 chapters, appendices, postscript, 684pp) |
104 | 3 | Appendix Three [Merchant of Venice; for revised UK and US edition], TS |
104 | 4 | MS and TS notes for "Introduction" and resources |
104 | 5 | "Introduction," corrected TS |
104 | 6 | "Letter to the Reader" and "Letter to the Editor," MS and TS |
104 | 7 | "Acknowledgements," TS |
104 | 8 | Inserts and Corrections |
104 | 9 | Lightly Corrected TS of Chapters, notes, and appendix |
104 | 10 | Lightly Corrected TS of Chapters |
104 | 11 | Miscellaneous TS |
105 | 1 | Miscellaneous TS |
105 | 2 | Miscellaneous TS |
105 | 3 | Miscellaneous TS |
105 | 4 | Miscellaneous TS |
105 | 5 | SGCB Galley proofs, incomplete |
OP8 | 3 | SGCB Galley proof, Faber and Faber (I) |
OP8 | 4 | SGCB Galley proof, Faber and Faber (II) |
105 | 6 | SGCB Faber uncorrected advance proofs, bound in light blue cover |
105 | 7 | SGCB correspondence, principally between TH and Gillian Bate, SGCB's copy editor [34 letters]. Includes some correspondence between TH and Christopher Reid (Faber) |
106 | 1 | SGCB correspondence: correspondence between TH and Richard Proudfoot |
106 | 2 | SGCB correspondence: correspondents include Craig Raine, Keith Sagar, Olwyn Hughes, and Moelwyn Merchant |
106 | 3 | Replies to critical reviews of SGCB: includes prose responses to Eric Griffiths and John Carey |
106 | 4 | Notes by TH on arrangement of chapters |
106 | 5 | "A Brief Guide to SGCB," TS drafts [in the form of a letter to "Michael"] and a brown notebook of MS notes |
106 | 6 | SGCB artwork |
106 | 7 | Faber cover designs and sketch by TS of potential cover design |
106 | 8 | "Blurb" for SGCB, TS |
Winter Pollen: Occasional Prose, ed. William Scammell (1994) | ||
106 | 9 | "Author's Preface" by TH and draft of contents for a proposed earlier selection of TH's prose by Ekbert Faas; plus various MS notes for the preface and contents |
106 | 10 | Incomplete series of chapters from Faas prose selection, TS, with initial contents page annotated in blue pen |
106 | 11 | Incomplete series of chapters from Faas prose selection, TS, with chapter numbers pencilled in top right hand corner |
106 | 12 | "Burnt Fox," corrected final TS |
106 | 13 | "Crow on the Beach" and letters from which essay was conceived, MS and TS |
106 | 14 | "Fantastic Happenings and Gory Adventures," MS and TS |
107 | 1 | "The Hanged Man and the Dragonfly," MS |
107 | 2 | "The Hanged Man and the Dragonfly," MS and TS; copious versos |
107 | 3 | "The Hanged Man and the Dragonfly," MS and TS; copious versos |
107 | 4 | "The Hanged Man and the Dragonfly," MS and TS |
107 | 5 | "The Hanged Man and the Dragonfly," MS and TS; copious versos |
107 | 6 | "The Hanged Man and the Dragonfly," MS and TS; copious versos |
107 | 7 | "The Hanged Man and the Dragonfly," final TS versions |
107 | 8 | "Inner Music," TS drafts |
107 | 9 | "Keats on the Difference between the Dreamer and the Poet," TS |
108 | 1 | "Myth and Education," annotated TSS |
108 | 2 | "Myths, metres, rhymes," MS and TS |
108 | 3 | "Myths, metres, rhymes," MS and TS |
108 | 4 | "Myths, metres, rhymes," MS and TS |
108 | 5 | "Myths, metres, rhymes," MS and TS |
108 | 6 | "Myths, metres, rhymes," MS and TS, with MS notebook pages of notes for essay |
108 | 7 | "Myths, metres, rhymes," TS corrections with TH note "Rough" |
108 | 8 | "Myths, metres, rhymes," corrected TS |
108 | 9 | "Myths, metres, rhymes," heavily corrected TSS |
108 | 10 | "Myths, metres, rhymes," TS with TH note "FINAL" |
109 | 1 | "Poetry and Violence," MS and TS drafts |
109 | 2 | "Poetry and Violence," corrected TS |
109 | 3 | "Publishing Sylvia Plath," corrected TS |
109 | 4 | "Shakespeare and Occult Neoplatonism," annotated photostat |
109 | 5 | "The Snake in the Oak," pink notebook with MS notes |
109 | 6 | "The Snake in the Oak," MS and TS drafts |
109 | 7 | "The Snake in the Oak," MS and TS drafts |
109 | 8 | "The Snake in the Oak," TS draft [marked "Final"] [See also Subseries 2.3 "Miss Dinsdale," MS [comic poem for the Queen Mother] and Subseries 2.6: Difficulties of a Bridegroom, "Deadfall"] |
109 | 9 | "The Snake in the Oak," TS draft [copy of "Final" with further annotations] |
109 | 10 | "The Snake in the Oak," TS postscript |
109 | 11 | "The Snake in the Oak," related correspondence and corrections |
109 | 12 | "Sylvia Plath's Collected Poems and The Bell Jar" [only in US edition], MS and TS |
110 | 1 | "Vasko Popa," MS notes |
110 | 2 | "A Word about Writing in Schools" |
110 | 3 | Winter Pollen, various TS corrections |
110 | 4 | Winter Pollen, corrected complete TS |
110 | 5 | Winter Pollen, corrected complete TS [1 of 3] |
110 | 6 | Winter Pollen, corrected complete TS [2 of 3] |
110 | 7 | Winter Pollen, corrected complete TS [3 of 3] |
110 | 8 | Winter Pollen, "first proof," corrected (1 of 2) |
111 | 1 | Winter Pollen, "first proof," corrected (2 of 2) |
111 | 2 | Winter Pollen, "second corrected proof" |
111 | 3 | Winter Pollen, proof with very few corrections |
111 | 4 | Winter Pollen, corrected pages for paperback edition |
111 | 5 | Winter Pollen, miscellaneous materials [including list of queries from copy editor; TH note for editor; list of Winter Pollen sources; correspondence with editor] |
Difficulties of a Bridegroom, 1995 | ||
111 | 6 | "The Deadfall," MS |
111 | 7 | "The Deadfall," TS |
111 | 8 | "The Head," MS |
111 | 9 | "The Head," MS |
111 | 10 | "The Head," TS |
111 | 11 | "The Head", Corrected TS |
- | - | "The Wound," MS and TS drafts [See Subseries 2.5, The Wound] |
- | - | Difficulties of a Bridegroom, Acknowledgements [See Subseries 2.3: Crow, "Crow was aware of another at war"] |
112 | 2 | Difficulties of a Bridegroom, Proof with corrections |
112 | 3 | Difficulties of a Bridegroom, Proof (2nd) with corrections |
OP8 | 5 | Difficulties of a Bridegroom, Proof with corrections |