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Hughes was a massive influence on my early writing but his influence started to wane around the time of Crow and as I was becoming more interested in French surrealism, Dada and Futurism and contemporary poets like Griffiths and Cobbing. It hard to exaggerate what a significant influence Hughes was upon younger poets in the north (especially the East Lancs/West Yorks area) and if you didn't come from or live 'up north' it can be hard to comprehend the 'Hughes effect' on all of us regardless of poetic tendencies. To have a poet of such statue reading his work in a northern accent, evoking hard-edged starkness via an almost edible use of language was a tremendous boost and validation of our northern identity. Poets who are not from the north are often surprised by my admission of Hughes influence but it makes perfect sense to me. Geraldine ----- Original Message ----- From: Jane Holland To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 9:44 PM Subject: The influence of Ted Hughes Does anyone have thoughts on any influence potentially exerted over experimental work by Ted Hughes? I'm thinking of his later work, of course, like Orghast, Gaudete and Cave-Birds, not the likes of Pike and Thought-Fox etc. I'm researching an article on Hughes' influence on poetry across the board, both mainstream and experimental, so the names of any individual Hughes-influenced poems or poets that spring to mind would be gratefully received. Cheers, Jane