How Ted Hughes presents Nature as superior to Man using the poems - Work and Play - The Warm and the Cold

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How Ted Hughes presents Nature as superior to Man

Using the poems:

Work and Play

The Warm and the Cold

In the poems 'Work and Play' and 'Hawk Roosting' by Ted Hughes, nature appears to be presented as superior to man. Each poem presents this in a different way.

In this poem, the humans are compared to the swallow. The swallow is shown as a more intelligent being than the humans. It is shown as a beautiful, agile creature, described using words and phrases such as 'A blue-dark knot of glittering voltage', 'cartwheeling through crimson'. These phrases make the swallow seem as if it is very graceful. In contrast, the humans in the poem are depicted as disgusting creatures.

'…The serpent of cars which collapsed on the beach

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Disgorges its organs

Which roll like tomatoes

Nude as tomatoes

With sand in their creases…'

This part of the poem creates an unattractive image of the humans, and encourages the reader to despise of them. Nature is shown as superior to man. The swallow seems much more powerful and beautiful than the humans. The humans are shown as if they are a nuisance, as the poem suggests that they pollute their surroundings:

'The serpent of cars that crawls through the dust

In shimmering exhaust'

Using the word 'serpent' to describe the cars makes it sound as if ...

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