Gaudete

Ted Hughes fails to achieve here what he has in previous books: the creation of a world based chiefly on ritual, the center of which is a haunting figure depicted in sharp, incantatory language. Gaudete is a poem/folktale in the tradition of Spenser: the Reverend Nicholas Lumb is carried off by fairies for an undefined purpose, and replaced for that time by a changeling made of oak. As the changeling organizes the parish women into a coven catering to his sexual needs, the story begins to break down. The discovery of Lumb's escapades by the parish husbands, who murder him amid vague, magical circumstances, lends itself more to a grade B movie than to a work of art. Topping this off is the tacked-on reappearance of the original Lumb, manifested by several flat poems which celebrate his return to the world as a "changed man," but don't fit the fabric of the rest of the work. Cliche aside, Hughes uses language throughout like a gavel - hammering hard to make a point and for much too long. Writing an epic requires a heightened sense of timing which is missing here. Even Hughes fans will be hard put to bear up under the weight of the writing - especially for a totally unpersuasive plot. (Kirkus Reviews)