English -- Winter Pollen: Occasional Prose by Ted Hughes and edited by William Scammell / Difficulties of a Bridegroom: Collected Short Stories by Ted Hughes

Ted Hughes. Winter Pollen: Occasional Prose. William Scammell, ed. London. Faber & Faber. 1994. xiv + 465 pages. L8.99/$14.95. ISBN 0-571-17426-4.

--. Difficulties of a Bridegroom: Collected Short Stories. London. Faber & Faber. 1995. ix + 159 pages. L12.99/$19.95. ISBN 0-571-16050-6.

For anyone who is a modern poetry enthusiast, particularly in the work of Ted Hughes, the last twelve months or so have been a virtual feast. First, Winter Pollen, a book of "occasional prose," appeared, then the much-awaited New Selected Poems 157-1994 (see the Verse subsection above), and most recently the volume of collected short stories Difficulties of a Bridegroom. A total of almost one thousand printed pages of the poet's selected works corroborates Sean O'Brien's comment in the Sunday Times: "It demonstrates anew that he is one of the bare handful of important English poets to emerge since the Second World War."

Winter Pollen is a substantial book, one that contains forty-five prose pieces...