In this poem Hughes also emphasises that animals are in their rightful place and are comfortable “the badger in its bedding like a loaf in the oven”. Whereas he describes humans in an uncomfortable way to give the impression that they are out of place. He extends this point with the aspect of time, there are several references to time each have a slightly different meaning. “The owl is pale on the gate post like a clock on its tower” this creates several images such as the owl being part of the gatepost as if it had been there forever. Also the ideas of a clock slowly ticking away, until the humans destroy themselves. Hughes extends this point by sharing his view that animals are the true rulers of the world. “Like a mammoth of the ice” this line reminds us that animals have been on this earth longer and yet we think that we rule it and can do to it what we please.
He also describes the farmers, who think they control the animals, as being really uncomfortable and almost in pain, “The sweating farmers turn in their sleep like oxen on spits.”
In “Work and Play” Hughes compares the human activity and the swallow’s. At first he makes out that it is the humans who are playing because they are at the beach. By the second verse it is pretty clear that it is the swallow that is playing and the humans are working.
This poem is set out in four verses. Each verse has two sections, in the first three verses the first section is about the swallow and the second part is about the people, but in the last verse the first section is about the humans so the poem ends with a vivid description of swallow.
Hughes uses a lot of different techniques in this poem. In this poem he shows that he is a sensual writer describing sound “lost kids squalling”, sight “a rainbow of purples”, touch “While man-eating flies jab electric shock needles”, taste “the honey-slow river” and smell “inhaling petroleum”. He uses distasteful ideas when describing humans such as the extended metaphor of the snake “the serpent of cars crawls through the dust…but the serpent of cars that collapsed on the beach disgorges its organs.” He uses other words when describing the humans to make us cringe such as “fever”, “laid out like the wounded”, “Their teeth grit on sand grains”, “headache” and “stickiness”. These words all make you feel unpleasant so you share some of his disgust just for a minute.
When Hughes describes the bird, it almost seems like we and it are from different planets. In the first verse there is a red herring because Hughes makes us believe that the swallow is working, “she toils all summer”. He also makes several references to how the swallow flies. He uses this lovely alliterative metaphor to feel as if you are flying along side her, “The swallow of summer, the seamstress of summer, she scissors the blue into shapes and she sews it.” This part of verse three leave you feeling that the swallow is masterful and more advanced than the crispy humans on the beach. Hughes also gives his opinion of the swallow in one word, “perfect”.
In the last verse everyone is going home. The humans are in pain, burnt arms and legs, sand in between their toes and the children wailing. For them the journey home is a nightmare. For the swallow the return home is joyous, fun and carefree; “cartwheeling through the crimson”. The swallow is content, dips briefly for a drink of water, then, “returns to the hand stretched from under the eaves” this both perfectly describes the swallow’s home and adds to the warm comfortable feeling. The way it describes the swallow’s nest is perfect because they really do look just like a slightly cupped hand under the eaves.
In “Hawk Roosting” Hughes uses fewer techniques than the other two because it is a personal poem almost like Hughes turned into a hawk for a day. This is reinforced by the presence of a lot of personal pro-nouns such as “I”, “me” and “my”. This also gives you the feeling that you can see directly into the hawk’s mind.
In the poem the hawk seems to believe that he is like a god above everyone, “Now I hold Creation in my foot”. He is arrogant and big headed but from his view he is right.
Hughes thinks more highly animals and his poetry proves it by similes, metaphor and description. He uses some alliteration, rhyming and enjambment to add to the effect. His poetry leaves me feeling that humans are all that is wrong with the world, that, and wishing I was an animal.