Ted Hughes’s explanatory declarations about his literature for children cast an interesting light on the intentions that lie under his ideal of a poetry for adults. He said he was aiming at a “lingua franca” of literature written for children, but which adults could listen to in a way that the poet favours, “because assuming this is not for them, they suspend deences and listen — in a way secretly — as children.” In the same text, he goes on by insisting that “one can communicate with children in a simple and whole way — not because they’re innocent, but because they’re not yet defensive.” As a consequence, for Hughes poetry at its best should operate on its readers without their conscious knowledge. Adults more than children, he says, requie “a language of anaesthetics”.