Ulven published Skyggen av urfuglen the first of five collections of poetry in 1977.
His early works, consisting of traditional modernist verse poetry, were heavily influenced by the writings of French writer and poet André Breton (1896–1966) and the surrealism movement.
He wrote a number of essays dealing with literature, philosophy, music and visual arts.
[3] For a number of years he had lived in relative physical isolation due to illness.
[4] In Joachim Trier's 2006 film Reprise Tor Ulven is mentioned by Philip as a writer that influenced him and is the inspiration for the character Sten Egil Dahl.