This article considers the poetry written for children by the late Ted Hugh
es, the British Poet Laureate. Looking at work that spans the length of his
career, this article examines Hughes's individual collections for children
, both in their own terms as poetry and in terms of their intended audience
. I suggest that Ted Hughes's poetry for children was an attempt, with vary
ing degrees of success, to create a body of work that remained true to his
gift of 'caging' the minute within real and imaginary worlds, and that he e
xpended considerable energy in staying faithful, not only to the world as h
e saw it, but also to the way his work appeared in, and took its place with
in, that world.