The Catch

Poetryful and poetic, with honeyed prose & thoughtful criticism. Cal Flynn — The TimesFluent and shrewd, The Catch doesn’t take its learning lightly. It’s a compelling — David Profumo — Country Life. Hughes’s passion for angling is well-known. But Wormald has a deep claim to the connection between Hughes’s poetic thinking and the act itself of fishing. . [But] These carrying streams are not just Hughes’s, his family’s, or friends’ lives, but Wormald’s as well. . Wormald’s prose is striking and sprung. The Catch is a subtle meditation about what it means to be a father or a brother, son or father. Rob St. John — Caught in the RiverWormald’s imaginative and scene-setting poems, a close reading of the poetry reveals new aspects about Hughes’ work. This is not an easy task. Hughes compared fishing to writing poetry. These descriptions will make fishermen in this book smile. Richard Benson — The Mail on SundayElectrifyingly Good — John Clegg – London Review BookshopA beautiful and inspiring book. Wormald does a great job of separating Hughes the myth from Hughes, the man. Alex Diggins — The Critic. The Catch is a wonderful book. It’s a genre-shifting, time-slipping exploration of lives and landscapes. Poetry, memoir, and biography are interwoven and woven together in a beautiful way. Obsessive and passionate, Wormald pursues Hughes. Over the course of the book, Wormald becomes deeply personal. It is a journey inwards and backwards in both spirit and time, going against the flow. Both the writer and the reader are left “lost in water” by The Catch. Robert MacfarlaneA wonderful gem… Mark Wormald’s love for angling and Ted Hughes’s poetry combine beautifully. The river was a delight throughout my trip. Paul WhitehouseMark Wormald takes a seemingly meaningless act – the search for exact, remote locations where a poet or fisherman has stood and floated, angled, and made it into a parable about what angling is and poetry shares. The act of stalking is the stalking of fish by men, but also the stalking and forgetting by man of his true self through poetry. Harry CliftonI am more fish than fisherman, but this book tugs at an aquatic consciousness at my base. Wormald’s quest makes me swim in the same brilliant waters, settle in the same rooty riverside corners, vividly drowsy and deeply awake. It was a wonderful experience. Amy-Jane BeerA torrent, with its dark backwaters and swirling depths, this book is a treasure trove of hard-earned insight. Luke JenningsEnlightening and engaging, this book is a convincing guide to Hughes’s incredible poetic talents. Richard BeardHere’s a book, a writer, and a view of the world and language that are as amazing as the subject. Adam Nicolson is a brilliant book. The Catch is complex, kaleidoscopic and brilliant in its originality. It’s a love song to a lifetime obsession. Katharine NorburyA beautiful piece of work that is modest, profound, and moving. Quietly profound — Ian SansomA delightfully beguiling, enjoyable literary pilgrimage that is full of surprises. It will delight any fisherman (or not) who enjoys reading poetry. David Profumo is truly a remarkable book. A deeply reflective look at Hughes’s fishing experience, with Wormald’s. Wormald’s engaging and lyrical style makes it easy to fall for his charms, and enjoy the process of wonder, as well as appreciative pleasure. Ettie Neil Gallacher — Field Mark Wormald has been a fisherman since he was four years old. He is an award-winning poet who won the Newdigate Prize at Oxford 1988 and the E. C. Gregory Award in 1995 from the Society of Authors. Mark has been a Fellow of English at Pembroke College in Cambridge since 1992. Ted Hughes woke up in his first office as a bed-sitter, and he longed for a burning fox. Charles Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers were edited by him for Penguin Classics. He also co-edited Ted Hughes: From Cambridge to Collected (2013) and Ted Hughes Nature and Culture (2018).
Ted Hughes meets Mark Wormald in the middle of a river that is swirling, casting a line. Because fishing was Ted Hughes’s way of breathing forty years ago, Mark Wormald stands there. Mark has come to understand through Ted Hughes’s writings that fishing has been his way too. Mark uses Hughes’s poetry collection River as a guide and his fishing diaries to help him return time and again to the lakes and rivers of Britain and Ireland, where he fished. Ted’s fly patterns are sometimes used by Mark, while others he uses his rods. It’s an obsession, a fundamental connection with nature, a thrill wildness, an elemental pursuit. It is also a way to find comfort and release, as Mark does when he fishes following the sudden death his mother.
The father’s ading. The Catch is a brilliant mix of biography and memoir. It’s a beautiful meditation on poetry, nature, and a quiet reflection about what it means to have a father and a child.