However, the Iron Man has a primitive power and magic about him, and after being buried he rises again. The farmers decide to dig a giant trap and with the help of Hogarth they capture him and bury him. However it also tells the story of friendship, betrayal and reconciliation between Hogarth, the little boy, and the Iron Man.

In the narrative Hughes personifies the wake of the ongoing environmental conflict between the age of machines and technology, and the destruction of the environment, through human-induced changes to nature. The Iron Man only eats metal, and soon becomes a problem for the community of local farmers, feasting on their tractors and raining destruction on the countryside by attacking industrial farm equipment. Half-way between a modern fairy-tale and science-fiction myth, The Iron Man describes the mysterious arrival of a giant “metal man” who comes from out of the sea, and after falling off a cliff manages to reassemble himself. Hence The Iron Man can be read on a more personal level, as a healing allegory, a story of redemption, a story of healing a fractured self: that of Hughes, after the recent suicide of Sylvia Plath, in 1963, later followed by the deaths of Assia Wevill and her daughter Shura. Hughes outlined the moral purpose of his story and analyses the meaning of myths in his essay “Myth and Education”, 1970, where he expresses the idea that some kinds of imaginative stories can have a curative effect. It has recently been republished by Walker Books (2010) in collaboration with Faber & Faber and features the drawings of Laura Carlin, which integrate artwork with the text in a far more compelling and resonant way than in the first edition. The Iron Man was first published by Faber & Faber in 1968, and illustrated by Andrew Davidson. In 1999 Warner Brothers released an animated film, The Iron Giant, based on the novel, directed by Brad Bird and with Townshend credited as executive producer. In America the title was changed to The Iron Giant so as to avoid confusion with Marvel Comics’ character Iron Man. Later in 1989 Pete Townshend, from The Who, released a musical rock adaptation: The Iron Man: A Musical, although critical reaction to the record and sales were mostly negative. Perhaps his best known novel is The Iron Man: A Children’s Story in Five Nights, written as a bedtime story for his own children. Ted Hughes is primarily known as Poet Laureate and one of the best poets of the last century, but he was also a prolifically creative writer for children. Lorraine Kerslake (University of Alicante) explores Hughes's popular children's story Prose by Ted Hughes The Iron Man (London: Faber and Faber, 1968)

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes