Conclusion: A New Classicism?

Abstract

This brief conclusion returns to Henri Lefebvre’s comparison of Romanticism and Classicism in order to consider where Hughes belongs at the end of his career. Lefebvre’s definition of Romanticism appears, at first sight, to be perfectly suited to Hughes—yet the theorist’s utopian position is taken to be unacceptable for the poet. Rather, as we can see through a discussion of Hughes’s late classical flourish in a Tales from Ovid, The Oresteia and other classical works, his shift is away from Romantic rebelliousness towards a more conservative position. This, however, sees Hughes accentuating the need for balance, for marrying intellect with instinct, even helping to create comfortable space for activity such as literary criticism to flourish in his world.