Crow (poetry)

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Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow is a literary work by Ted Hughes and one of Hughes' most important works.

It is a collection of poems based around the character Crow, which borrow extensively from many world mythologies, notably Christian mythology. The first Crow poems were written in response to a request by the American artist Leonard Baskin, who had at the time produced several pen and ink drawings of crows.

It is quoted briefly in the liner notes of Paul Simon's song My Little Town.

The character of crow is arguably a mythologisation of Hughes' own life and experiences. The hard, bleak and, at times, pitch black tone is a reflection of his view of nature as an impersonal and chaotic entity. The work is unflinchingly honest and little escapes the poet's sharp and imaginative eye. In terms of its relentlessly probing nature the collection makes by no means light reading, but the quality of the work itself is very rewarding so any feelings of world-weariness it induces are transcended by the vitality of the work. The style of the poems is distinctly unique, with Hughes forging meaning out of his coarse, tight words and original structures. The scope of the collection is vast, embracing as it does the span of philosophy, religion, history (especially that of the 20th century), mythology, anthropology and mysticism.