Former Poet Laureate Ted Hughes was described as a “prince among poets” as he was honoured with a permanent memorial in Westminster Abbey.
May his words continueto inspire, to challenge, to encourage
The memorial stone – placed at the foot of the memorial to Hughes’s mentor TS Eliot – includes an extract from That Morning, taken from his collection of River Poems.
It reads: “So we found the end of our journey, So we stood alive in the river of light, Among the creatures of light, creatures of light.”
During the service his widow Carol Hughes laid flowers on the plaque, made up of herbs from the couple’s garden in North Tawton in Devon.
More than 300 people attended the ceremony, including writers Simon Armitage, Sir Andrew Motion and Michael Morpurgo. His daughter Frieda also attended.
The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster, opened the ceremony with a tribute to Hughes.
He said: “Now the name of Ted Hughes is to be found here too, his ledger stone at the foot of TS Eliot’s, his hero and champion.
“Thus we honour the memory of one of the greatest English poets. May his words continue to inspire, to challenge, to encourage.
“May his name live for evermore.”
An extract from a letter which the former poet laureate wrote to his tragic wife Sylvia Plath was among the works to be read during the service.
The letter to Plath dates from October 1956, four months after the couple married, and seven years before she went on to commit suicide.
Actress Juliet Stevenson expressively read three of Hughes’s works – Full Moon and Little Frieda, Anniversary and Where I Sit Writing My Letter – chosen by his wife.
Former poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion said: “It almost literally cements his place in the great tradition of great British writers and that seems completely well deserved to me and I dare say to all in sundry.
“This corner of the Abbey is a national honour, it’s not to do with a particular piece of patronage, it’s the recognition that the nation feels admiring of this person and is likely to go on feeling admiring of them for all time. “To have that manifested in this simple and beautiful way is very moving I think.” Hughes’s memorial is in the South Transept in the company of the graves and memorials of other poets and great writers.
The poets laureate John Dryden, John Masefield and Alfred Lord Tennyson are all buried in the Abbey while John Betjeman, William Wordsworth and Robert Southey are commemorated with memorials.
The writer – born in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, in 1930 – found immediate acclaim with his first book of poems, Hawk In The Rain, in 1957 and over the next 41 years, he wrote nearly 90 books, winning numerous prizes.