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Abstract: The article shows the essential role of drama in the work of the 20th century greatest English poet Ted Hughes. Being mainly a myth-maker and a language experimenter, Hughes throughout his life turned to drama as a genre capable of showing the work of a myth, which the poet found in almost any classical text and implicitly embedded in his own poetry collections. The article shows how, by translating and adapting the texts of ancient tragedies for the modern English stage, Hughes focused on the polyphony of myth, the multiplicity of its interpretation, pagan symbolism, and not on the classical conventions of form and language. The author also describes in detail the meaning and structure of Hughes’ literary essay “Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being” (1992), in which Hughes’ Shakespeare appears as a poet-prophet who “solved” the ancient mythical code. As for Hughes’ own works related to theatrical activities and drama, the author of the article analyzes the experimental play “Orghast”, written and directed by Hughes together with the English director Peter Brook. The author describes how the plots of various world myths intertwine and function in the play “Orghast”. The last part of the article examines how Hughes implements the dramatic principle in his own poetry collections, thereby giving them polyphony and new semantics. The article also touches on the specifics of dramatic monologues, a special poetic form, where the Hughes myth comes to life, acquires a special sound and expression in the voice of the mythical characters.

About the author(s) :

Antonina A. Gurianova

National Research University Higher School of Economics (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2477-9253

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 23.06.2024; date of publication: 28.03.2025

References:

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