"Hughes thinks more highly of animals than humans." How far does his poetry support this statement?

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“Hughes thinks more highly of animals than humans.” How far does his poetry support this statement?

I have studied three poems that were written by Ted Hughes. They are called “The Warm and the Cold”, “Work and Play” and “Hawk Roosting”. “Work and Play” is about a swallow and comparing it to humans. “Hawk Roosting” is about the feeling of power and authority of the Hawk and “The Warm and the Cold” is describing all the different animals being safe and warm at night.

I am going to prove that Hughes talks through his poetry about his love of animals and dislike of humans.

In “The Warm and the Cold” he uses a strict structure with the first section describing the night and in the second part about the animals. He uses a lot of similes when describing the animals like; “The hare strays down the highway Like a root going deeper” as this repeats it gives the poem a continuous rhythm. He also uses metaphors, in the segments of the verse, where he describes the night. Such as “The past and the future Are the jaws of a steel vice”. Hughes also uses personification about the animals. He describes the deer being on the hill “like smiles on a nurse”. This both gives the deer a human side and puts down the nurse suggesting that they rarely smile.

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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. ...

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