Remains of Elmet

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However, the incredibly long historical view that the title immediately evokes left me wishing that Hughes wrote more about the landscape itself, the shape of which has been formed by and inherited from tribes and kingdoms from very, very long ago (Becca Banks and Grim's Ditch for example), and that he took, again, a much longer view of history. This is brought out from time to time in poems such as Churn-Milk Joan, however it was only really the last 200 odd years that got a good look in, which I thought was a shame, having geared up for reading the collection by reading lots about the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons and the Angles. Certainly, the images of the poem depict a paradise on Earth, a paradise overflowing with light, colour and beauty. But there are mythological allusions, too, which belie Hughes’ claim that the poem is ‘simply’ about himself and his brother. The world we are shown is a world held in the “ cupped hand” of the Dawn–Goddess, Eos; and the two figures step into it like her twin star–god sons, Hesperus and Phosphorus, who are also Venus and Jupiter who “ year in and year out / Contend for the crown / Of morning star and of evening star” ( R.118). I had been working in colour for ten years or so and looked at digital and liked the possibilities it gave me. So I went out and bought this little 5-MegaPixel camera that I like because I don’t have to carry any heavy bags around. It’s also an incredible reminder of the history and heritage which exists beneath our feet, and we look forward to hopefully playing our part in telling this story to visitors to the museum." The Calder valley, west of Halifax, was the last ditch of Elmet, the last British Celtic kingdom to fall to the Angles. For centuries it was considered a more or less uninhabitable wilderness, a notorious refuge for criminals, a hide-out for refugees. Then in the early 1800s it became the cradle for the Industrial Revolution in textiles, and the upper Calder became “the hardest-worked river in England”. Throughout my lifetime, since 1930, I have watched the mills of the region and their attendant chapels die. Within the last fifteen years the end has come. They are now virtually dead, and the population of the valley and the hillsides, so rooted for so long, is changing rapidly.’ Ted Hughes, Preface to Remains of Elmet (1979)

The major work which closely followed Cave Birds and Gaudete in publication was Remains of Elmet. It was the third long sequence of Hughes’ poems to be published by Faber and Faber between 1977 and 1979 and although Hughes first suggested the Elmet project to Fay Godwin in 1970 and she took some photographs of the area, it was not until 1976 that the book was seriously discussed ( Letters 378–80). Only in 1977 did the first of the Elmet poems began to appear in print 1. It seems likely, therefore, that the whole Elmet sequence was written within this short three year period and subsequent to Cave Birds and Gaudete. Godwin's archive, including approximately 11,000 exhibition prints, the entire contents of her studio, and correspondence with some of her subjects, was given to the British Library [3] Publications [ edit ]Through these elders, through his attunement to the raw elemental freedom of the moors, and through his affinity with those, like the Brontes, who shared his passions, Hughes first learned to listen and respond to the music within himself which connected him with his roots and with Nature. By these means, he counteracted the destructive aspects of his early environment. Unlike the puppet singers, however, Hughes became aware of his ability to hear and transmit this music; and, alerted by his visions and by watching the death throes of the Calder Valley, he came to believe in its importance to Mankind, and of the dangers of seeking to repress this valuable link with the energies of the Source.

Godwin’s eye for detail is typical of all great landscapers. She has the patience of a saint when out in the field, so to speak, and never once settles for second best when recording the subtleties of land and light. Her finest hour came in 1985, when the first of her Land trilogies was published. Regarded by many as the finest study of British landscape ever published, it set new standards in British landscape photography and made Godwin a darling of the Arts Council. But it came with problems. Influenced by Bill Brandt and Paul Strand, she looks for the narrative in her landscapes, choosing to record man’s relationship with the environment. She’s made it her niche. Unlike those who “ acted” Peter Pan (the word suggests the falsity of their role), Hughes, because of the different perspectives his closeness to Nature offered him, saw another reality: he saw the impending apocalypse, and sought to warn his people of it. But, because he embodied some of the energies these people had been taught to fear and suppress, he seemed dangerous and threatening. So, the image of Peter Pan’s crocodile, with its embodiment of primitive energies, the rhythmical warning it carried to those whom it approached, and its aura of danger, perfectly describes Hughes’ situation from both his own perspective and theirs. It should be noted, too, that the reaction of the Neverland inhabitants to the crocodile, is remarkably similar to that of some of Hughes’ critics and readers to the seemingly dangerous ‘violence’ of his poetry. According to a genetic study published in Nature (19 March 2015), the local population of West Yorkshire is genetically distinct from the rest of the population of Yorkshire. [12] The 2015 Oxford University study compared the current genetic distribution in Britain to the geographical maps of its historic Kingdoms, and found that the distinct West Yorkshire genetic cluster closely corresponds to Elmet’s known territories. This suggests Elmet may have maintained a regional identity through the centuries. [13] Aliotus Stone [ edit ]

Thus, with typical care and precision, Hughes chose as a symbol of his own role a creature which represents the powers of the Goddess here on Earth. Being amphibious, it moves with shamanic ease between water and land, linking the two worlds to which we belong – the watery world from which we came in prehistoric times and which also (for Hughes) represented the unconscious energies and our present land–based, reason–dominated world. Because of such shamanic powers, Hughes‘ prophecies of disaster are not untempered with hope. In his role of poet/shaman/alchemist, he not only poetically transforms the death of the Calder Valley society into a spiritual re–birth (‘Heptonstall Cemetery’ ( ROE.122)), he also brings to us some transforming imaginative energies which might allow us to attain our own enlightenment and spiritual release.

In general, however, Remains of Elmet impressed its reviewers with its power to evoke the bleak, rugged and haunting beauty of the Calder Valley. Fay Godwin’s photographs were universally praised, and Hughes’ poems were variously described as “ the most restrained, beautiful and unobtrusively effective poems” 5, “ his most approachable volume” for a long time 6; and “ Landscape poetry” 7. Few reviewers regarded the sequence as much more than Hughes’ nostalgic reaction to Fay Godwin’s photographs. Only one discerned any connecting thread linking the poems, beyond their common concern with the Calder Valley. Even Gifford and Roberts characterise Remains of Elmet as “ a social history [written] as a natural history”, although they did believe that in this book Hughes was “ writing at the height of his powers” and they remark on the frequency with which he achieved “ complete unity between the vision of the poem and its language” ( G/R 239, 249). Man Booker Prize 2017: shortlist makes room for debuts alongside big names". The Guardian. 13 September 2017 . Retrieved 13 September 2017. But after dispensing with a few choice words on humble journos (for not turning up to see her latest exhibition of digital work), she relents a little, and explains what’s kept her away from the hills these last few years. Remains of Elmet - The Ted Hughes Society Journal". Thetedhughessociety.org . Retrieved 10 December 2017.Landmarks is a glorious celebration of the work of Fay Godwin, one of the UK ’s most respected and influential photographers. Drawing on the whole body of her photographic practice of the last thirty years, it includes literary portraits, humorous snapshots, and rural and urban landscapes, as well as the intimate series of colour images, Glassworks, that marks the most recent evolution of her work. Poet Simon Armitage introduces the book, and an essay by photographic historian Roger Taylor explores and illuminates both Godwin’s career and her approach to photography. One further important aspect of Remains of Elmet has yet to be examined, and that is Hughes’ own participation in the sequence. Not only did he create the imaginative rituals of the poetry and manipulate the energies so as to effect healing and re–integration, but he specifically included himself in this process. In so doing, Hughes deliberately subjected himself to the energies and to the ritual of re–integration which he attempted. Figuratively and psychologically he returned to his formative years and re–lived the events and situations to which he was exposed, thus facilitating a healing catharsis.

Publication of first co-author book, The Oldest Road, with writer J.R.L. Anderson. Exhibitions from the series toured nationally. All upcoming public events are going ahead as planned and you can find more information on our events blog Consequently, the trout which leapt so suddenly into his dark “ cavern of air and water” under the busy canal bridge seemed god–like and sacred –“ An ingot! / Holy of holies! A treasure!”– a “ seed of the wild god now flowering” just for him.Born Berlin , Germany . Father a British diplomat, mother an American artist. Educated at various schools all over the world.