Poet Sean O'Brien considers the reputations of two very different poets: the raw versus the cooked, the shaman versus the rationalist, Ted Hughes versus Philip Larkin.

Ted Hughes died in 1998, and we are still arguing about his legacy. In this series of the Radio 3 Essay, leading poets bring a sharp eye to the poems themselves, reminding us why Hughes is regarded as one of the 20th-century's greatest writers, and exploring how the works match up to, inform and contradict what we know of the man.

Recorded before a live audience at the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival in Hull in 2018.

Written and read by Sean O'Brien.
Produced by Simon Richardson. Show less