The Hawk in the Rain (Faber Modern Classics)

This multi-award winning collection, the first from Ted Hughes, has at its heart the mixture of beauty and violence in the natural world. Dedicated to Sylvia Plath, Hawk in the Rain is a stunning collection of poems on the themes of competition and the struggle for survival. Hughes would go on to become Britain''s Poet Laureate in 1984 until his death in 1998.

Including many of Hughes'' best-known poems, such as ''The Jaguar'', ''The Thought-Fox'' and ''Wind'' - now stapes of British poetry anthologies - Hawk in the Rain is the foundation of Hughes'' reputation as one of the twentieth-century''s greatest poets.