1. These and most other quotations are from The Way to Write by John Fairfax and John Moat, with a foreword by Ted Hughes, Elm Tree Books, Hamish Hamilton, London 1986.

2. Ted Hughes to Ann Skea, 18 Aug. 1993 (British Library).

3. Reid. C (ed.) Letters of Ted Hughes, Faber, 2007. p.345.

4. Ted Hughes to Philip Larkin. Reid.C. op.cit. pp. 404 and 441.