A new biography of the late poet laureate's mistress, Assia Wevill, depicts him as a bully who forced her to obey his list of household chores

Ted Hughes, the late Poet Laureate, was a domestic tyrant who issued a 'Draft Constitution' to his mistress, instructing her how to carry out household chores and look after his children.

A new book reveals that Hughes's lover, Assia Wevill, was ordered by him not to have lie-in, wear her dressing gown around the house or take a nap during the day. Wevill told friends the poet's lovemaking was so ferocious that 'in bed, he smells like a butcher'. The claims are made in A Lover of Unreason: The Biography of Assia Wevill, by two Israeli journalists who have spent 15 years researching her story.

Wevill has often been neglected by biographers in favour of Hughes's tempestuous marriage to American poet Sylvia Plath, which ended with her suicide in 1963 after he had begun an affair with Wevill. Six years later Wevill herself committed suicide and took the life of their four-year-old daughter, Shura, after she discovered that Hughes was having an affair.

According to the authors, Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev, Hughes's domestic instructions were probably written in 1967 when he and Wevill were living in Devon with Frieda and Nicholas, his children by Plath. He banned her from staying in bed beyond 8am, ordered her to dress straight away and told her not to catch up on sleep. The two pages of typed instructions said that she should teach the children German, play with them for at least an hour a day and introduce at least one meal with 'a recipe we have never had before' on a weekly basis. Hughes made clear he had no intention of cooking 'except in emergencies'.

The unflattering account of the writer, who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1984, comes after years of hostility towards him from feminists. There have been attempts to vandalise Plath's grave in the Yorkshire village of Heptonstall by chipping off the name 'Hughes'.

Last night, novelist Fay Weldon, who knew all three members of the love triangle, refused to condemn Hughes. 'Assia was the sort of person who expected a maid to do everything,' she said. 'She probably got up one day and wondered where the maid was. Ted probably wondered how he'd cope so he sat down and typed two pages of instructions. This doesn't mean he's any more of a domestic tyrant than all men were in the Sixties, when the men went out to work and the women looked after the home. It seems very unfair to Ted.'

The book also reveals that Hughes and Wevill starting sharing Plath's bed in the London flat where she died within two days of her suicide. Wevill, a German-born Jew, was probably already pregnant by Hughes and used the same bed to recover from an abortion six weeks later.

Their affair had started after Wevill and her husband, David, visited Hughes and Plath at their home, also in Devon, in 1962. The biography tells how Assia claimed that Hughes had kissed her when they were alone together in the kitchen. Five weeks later, Hughes hurried to a London agency where Wevill was working, scribbled a note and left it with the receptionist. It said: 'I have come to see you, despite all marriages.'

Koren and Negev continue: 'Having always preferred rough waters to smooth sailing, she couldn't resist the thrill of responding - but she wanted to do it in striking, memorable fashion. From her office window, she noticed that a gardener was mowing the lawn below - and found her inspiration. She went down, picked up a single blade of the freshly cut grass, dipped it in Dior perfume and sent it to Ted. Three days later, an envelope arrived at Assia's office: in it, the blade of grass lay beside one from Devon.'

Betrayed and desperate, Wevill's husband took an overdose of sleeping pills but survived. The book claims: 'While David lay semi-conscious on a stretcher, [Assia] was ruthless enough to announce that Hughes had raped her... After a taxi took them home that Sunday evening, [David] composed a short note to his rival: "If you come near my wife again, I'll kill you".'

But the Wevills were destined to separate and Assia joined Hughes in Plath's old flat. 'Assia did not make any secret of Ted's ferocious lovemaking when it came to her office friends. She told Edward Lucie-Smith: "You know, in bed, he smells like a butcher." '

The couple parted in 1968 after Hughes embarked on another affair. The following year, at the age of 42, Wevill gassed herself, just as Plath had done. In a diary entry, she blamed the ghost of Plath for making her suicidal.

The love of poets

Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning

Elizabeth's tyrannical father forbade his children from marrying, but she conducted a courtship with fellow poet Robert in secret. They married in 1847, then fled to Florence.

How it ended: Together until her death in 1861.

TS Eliot and Vivien Haigh-Wood

The couple met at Oxford in 1915 and married soon after. Viv had an affair with Bertrand Russell and was committed to an asylum in 1938.

How it ended: Separated in 1932; Viv died, probably of an overdose, in 1947.

Dylan Thomas and Caitlin MacNamara

The Welsh poet met dancer and writer Caitlin in a London pub in 1936 and they married in 1937. They had a stormy relationship. Caitlin said: 'The booze ate up all our money and all our lives.'

How it ended: Together until his death in 1953.

Katy Heslop