Ted Hughes Quotes

“Slowly the sun put its burning red edge into the sky. Lark gave a shriek. He sprang up into the air. ‘It’s the sun!’ he cried. ‘It’s real day!‘”

“Every morning the birds sing, and the Owl flies back to his dark hole. When the birds see him, they mob him, remembering his trick. He dare only come out at night, to scrape a bare living on rats, mice and beetles.”

“But the birds had no more interest in anything that Owl said. They only wanted to die.”

“To begin with, all the creatures were pretty much alike- very different from what they are now. They had no idea what they were going to become.”

“Now, as we have no passports, we shall have to cross the frontier by night, when no one can see us. We shall leave at dusk and should be there by dawn.”

“He wanted to keep the birds in his power.”

″‘Night here,’ he said, ‘is so dark, so terribly dark, that it is impossible for a mere bird to survive one glimpse of it.‘”

″‘Let us all die bravely, and at once,’ said Robin, ‘rather than go on dying slowly in this miserable way.‘”

“Oh, they were so tired of their lives. To die like this was better than to live as they had been doing, going nowhere but where Owl led them, always in darkness, scraping their feet raw for a few grains.”

“The birds took no notice of him. They went on singing, in their thin, hungry voices. It was a long time since they had sung. Now they sang very low, and very sadly.”

“Then, when a terrible monster from outer space threatens to lay waste to the planet, it is the Iron Man who finds a way to save the world.”

“Mankind must put a stop to the dreadful destruction by the Iron Man and set a trap for him, but he cannot be kept down.”

“Then the busy hands fitted the legs to the torso, then they fitted the arms, each fitting the other, and the torso stood up with legs and arms but not head. It walked about the beach, holding its eyes up in its hands, searching for its lost head.”

“Mankind must put a stop to the dreadful destruction by the Iron Man and set a trap for him, but he cannot be kept down. Then, when a terrible monster from outer ...”

“Then, when a terrible monster from outer space threatens to lay waste to the planet, it is the Iron Man who finds a way to save the world.”

“From rock to rock, snag to snag, tumbling slowly. And as he crashed and crashed and crashed. His iron legs fell off. HIs iron arms broke off, and the hands broke off the arms. His great iron ears fell off and his eyes fell out.”

“Then, when a terrible monster from outer space threatens to lay waste to the planet, it is the Iron Man who finds a way to save the world.”

“The hand with the eye fastened itself on the wrist of the arm. The arm stood up and walked in its hand. The other hand clung on behind as before, and this strange trio went searching.”

“The Iron Man tells the story of a gigantic metal robot who appears out of nowhere, crashing onto the beach and shattering into many parts.”

“A mysterious creature stalks the land, eating barbed wire and devouring tractors and plows.”