--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Ted Hughes is dead. That's a fact, OK…" description: "\"Ted Hughes is dead. That's a fact, OK. Then there's something called the poetry of Ted Hughes. The poetry of Ted Hughes is more real, very soon, than t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/287/derek-walcott-2220_dead_ted-hughes-is-dead-that-s-a-fact-ok-then_1834007.jpg" --- # Ted Hughes is dead. That's a fact, OK. Then there's… ![“Ted Hughes is dead. That's a fact, OK. Then there's something called the poetry of Ted Hughes. The poetry of Ted Hughes is more real, very soon, than the myth that Ted Hughes existed - because that can't be proven.” quote by Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/287/derek-walcott-2220_dead_ted-hughes-is-dead-that-s-a-fact-ok-then_1834007.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/287/derek-walcott-2220_dead_ted-hughes-is-dead-that-s-a-fact-ok-then_1834007.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/287/derek-walcott-2220_dead_ted-hughes-is-dead-that-s-a-fact-ok-then_1834007.jpg) > “Ted Hughes is dead. That's a fact, OK. Then there's something called the poetry of Ted Hughes. The poetry of Ted Hughes is more real, very soon, than the myth that Ted Hughes existed - because that can't be proven.” [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Distinguishes the tangible impact of Hughes’s poetry from the unverified myth of his existence **In simple terms:** Poetry feels more real than the unproven myth of his existence Key Takeaway Focus on the work, not the legend Themes art truth myth Mood analytical thoughtful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - literary analysis - creative writing workshops - academic seminars - public readings Key Concepts literary criticism existential authenticity authorial mythos Questions to Reflect On - What makes a poet’s work feel more authentic than their biography? - How do myths shape our appreciation of art? A Different Perspective Myth can still influence perception of art ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Called Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/called-poetry-816312/) [Dead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dead/) [Hughes Existed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hughes-existed-2296986/) [Hughes Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hughes-poetry-2296988/) [More](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/more/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poetry Ted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-ted-2296987/) [Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real/) [Something](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/something/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ted-hughes-1645924/) ## Related quotes > [There is no one more deserving of a place in Poets' Corner. Ted Hughes introduced a new kind of landscape into English poetry. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/there-is-no-one-more-deserving-of-a-place-in-poets-corner-ted-hughes/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [When I was about 14, in about 1984, I decided to become a great poet. Faber & Faber was going to publish me, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mitchell/when-i-was-about-14-in-about-1984-i-decided-to-become-a-great-poet/) [David Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mitchell/) > [I did know Ted Hughes and I partly wrote the book to explain to myself and others the complexities of a marriage that was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-stevenson/i-did-know-ted-hughes-and-i-partly-wrote-the-book-to-explain-to/) [Anne Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-stevenson/) > [Ted Hughes has been appointed poet laureate to succeed Sir John Betjeman, which is a bit like appointing a grim young crow to replace…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-howard-20th-earl-of-arundel/ted-hughes-has-been-appointed-poet-laureate-to-succeed-sir-john/) [Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-howard-20th-earl-of-arundel/) > [What I write could only be called poetry because there is no other category to put it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/what-i-write-could-only-be-called-poetry-because-there-is-no-other/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [When you think intensely and beautifully, something happens. That something is called poetry. If you think that way and speak at the same time,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bringhurst/when-you-think-intensely-and-beautifully-something-happens-that/) [Robert Bringhurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bringhurst/) > [I was surprised recently to find a book called "Poetry in Persons" that's coming out about visit to poets to a class that Pearl…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/i-was-surprised-recently-to-find-a-book-called-poetry-in-persons-that/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [“OMG! I DESIGNED THIS NEW SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM! IT'S CALLED "POETRY" - YOU HAVE TO READ AMY KING'S POEMS TO GET AN INVITE ~”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-king/omg-i-designed-this-new-social-media-platform-it-s-called-poetry-you/) [Amy King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-king/) > [“Once again, Whittemore escapes what might be a fatal mistake in another author. Far from the funhouse hall of mirrors one might expect from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-whittemore/once-again-whittemore-escapes-what-might-be-a-fatal-mistake-in/) [Edward Whittemore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-whittemore/) > [“I’m just–” She wanted to say “not in the mood,” but that was not only a cliché but a vast understatement. She was dead.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-mcintosh/i-m-just-she-wanted-to-say-not-in-the-mood-but-that-was-not-only-a/) [Will McIntosh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-mcintosh/) > [If you’re alive, don’t move, if you’re dead, don’t worry about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurell-k-hamilton/if-you-re-alive-don-t-move-if-you-re-dead-don-t-worry-about-it/) [Laurell K. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurell-k-hamilton/) > [It's a really dark, emotionally wrenching world that we've created on 'The Walking Dead.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-holden/it-s-a-really-dark-emotionally-wrenching-world-that-we-ve-created-on/) [Laurie Holden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-holden/) > [Okay, so I'll admit I'm curious. Big deal. We both know what that leads to. Dead cat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-elizabeth-phillips/okay-so-i-ll-admit-i-m-curious-big-deal-we-both-know-what-that-leads/) [Susan Elizabeth Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-elizabeth-phillips/) > [I can't be a legend yet. I'm not dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maynard-james-keenan/i-can-t-be-a-legend-yet-i-m-not-dead/) [Maynard James Keenan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maynard-james-keenan/) > [I'm going to stay on stage until I drop dead. Then I'm going to have myself stuffed, like Trigger, and I'm going to put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debbie-reynolds/i-m-going-to-stay-on-stage-until-i-drop-dead-then-i-m-going-to-have/) [Debbie Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debbie-reynolds/) ## More by Derek Walcott > [Memory that yearns to join the centre, a limb remembering the body from which it has been severed, like those bamboo thighs of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/memory-that-yearns-to-join-the-centre-a-limb-remembering-the-body/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [Peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/peel-your-own-image-from-the-mirror-sit-feast-on-your-life/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [I don't feel I've arrived home until I get on the beach. All my life, the theater of the sea has been a very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/i-don-t-feel-i-ve-arrived-home-until-i-get-on-the-beach-all-my-life/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [“As human beings we’ve certainly suffered the loss of awe, the loss of sacredness, and the loss of the fact that we’re not here—…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/as-human-beings-we-ve-certainly-suffered-the-loss-of-awe-the-loss-of/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [“I shall unlearn feeling, unlearn my gift. That is greater and harder than what passes there for life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/i-shall-unlearn-feeling-unlearn-my-gift-that-is-greater-and-harder/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [The greatest writers have been, at heart, parochial, provincial in their rootedness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/the-greatest-writers-have-been-at-heart-parochial-provincial-in-their/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/the-time-will-come-when-with-elation-you-will-greet-yourself-arriving/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/break-a-vase-and-the-love-that-reassembles-the-fragments-is-stronger/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [My mother, who is nearly ninety now, still talks continually about my father. All my life, I've been aware of her grief about his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/my-mother-who-is-nearly-ninety-now-still-talks-continually-about-my/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [My family background really only consists of my mother. She was a widow. My father died quite young; he must have been thirty-one. Then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/my-family-background-really-only-consists-of-my-mother-she-was-a/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [“I am the man my father loved and was.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/i-am-the-man-my-father-loved-and-was/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [Like any art, what is the most imprisoning thing is also the most delivering thing. If an actor knows he only has 12 syllables…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/like-any-art-what-is-the-most-imprisoning-thing-is-also-the-most/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [The thing that is believed is a reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/the-thing-that-is-believed-is-a-reality/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [The history of the world - by which, of course, we mean Europe - is a record of intertribal lacerations, of ethnic cleansings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/the-history-of-the-world-by-which-of-course-we-mean-europe-is-a/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [The English language is nobody's special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/the-english-language-is-nobody-s-special-property-it-is-the-property/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) [Explore all 177 Derek Walcott quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) ## More Dead quotes > [I'm going to stay on stage until I drop dead. Then I'm going to have myself stuffed, like Trigger, and I'm going to put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debbie-reynolds/i-m-going-to-stay-on-stage-until-i-drop-dead-then-i-m-going-to-have/) [Debbie Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debbie-reynolds/) > [I can't be a legend yet. I'm not dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maynard-james-keenan/i-can-t-be-a-legend-yet-i-m-not-dead/) [Maynard James Keenan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maynard-james-keenan/) > [Okay, so I'll admit I'm curious. Big deal. We both know what that leads to. Dead cat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-elizabeth-phillips/okay-so-i-ll-admit-i-m-curious-big-deal-we-both-know-what-that-leads/) [Susan Elizabeth Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-elizabeth-phillips/) > [It's a really dark, emotionally wrenching world that we've created on 'The Walking Dead.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-holden/it-s-a-really-dark-emotionally-wrenching-world-that-we-ve-created-on/) [Laurie Holden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-holden/) > [If you’re alive, don’t move, if you’re dead, don’t worry about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurell-k-hamilton/if-you-re-alive-don-t-move-if-you-re-dead-don-t-worry-about-it/) [Laurell K. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurell-k-hamilton/) > [“I’m just–” She wanted to say “not in the mood,” but that was not only a cliché but a vast understatement. She was dead.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-mcintosh/i-m-just-she-wanted-to-say-not-in-the-mood-but-that-was-not-only-a/) [Will McIntosh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-mcintosh/) > [Library: A place where the dead lie.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elbert-hubbard/library-a-place-where-the-dead-lie/) [Elbert Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elbert-hubbard/) > [When we dead awaken ... we see that we have never lived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henrik-ibsen/when-we-dead-awaken-we-see-that-we-have-never-lived/) [Henrik Ibsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henrik-ibsen/) > [Rather be dead than cool.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-cobain/rather-be-dead-than-cool/) [Kurt Cobain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-cobain/) > [He was obviously dead. But since he was a vampire that wasn't as hopless a thing as it might have been.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-briggs/he-was-obviously-dead-but-since-he-was-a-vampire-that-wasn-t-as/) [Patricia Briggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-briggs/) > [Ireland starts for me with the end of 'The Dead,' which my father read to me from his desk in his basement office in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-jeremiah-sullivan/ireland-starts-for-me-with-the-end-of-the-dead-which-my-father-read/) [John Jeremiah Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-jeremiah-sullivan/) > [“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.’ – Ben Franklin,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/three-may-keep-a-secret-if-two-of-them-are-dead-ben-franklin/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [I intend to do the Penn & Teller show until they pry my cheesy magic wand from my cold dead fingers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penn-jillette/i-intend-to-do-the-penn-teller-show-until-they-pry-my-cheesy-magic/) [Penn Jillette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penn-jillette/) > ['Misery' left a lasting mark on me. 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