Ted Hughes: "Hughes' early poems describe the animal kingdom with exact naturalistic detail. They also focus on animals to probe at aspects of human nature."

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Richard Stephens                6/12/02

Ted Hughes: “Hughes’ early poems describe the animal kingdom with exact naturalistic detail. They also focus on animals to probe at aspects of human nature.”

        During the course of this essay I will be discussing this title with respect to two of Hughes’ poems, ‘Hawk Roosting’ and ‘Pike’.

        Firstly I will examine the title in relation to the poem ‘Pike’. The first stanza of Hughes’ poem shows a distinction between his own style and the Romanticism of the Nineteenth Century’s style of poetry:
                           
‘Pike, three inches long, perfect
                            Pike in all parts, green tigering the gold.
                            Killers from the egg: the malevolent aged grin.
                            They dance on the surface among the flies.’

In contrast to Wordsworth’s idealism’s, and pondering of nature and delicate human emotions, "Pike" shows a rough and more realistic nature.  Unlike the beautiful, idyllic scenes of the Romantics that evoked complex views, Hughes' poem describes simple human emotions. This occurs because "Pike" depicts a nature commanding respect for its obvious rawness, power, and uniqueness, in contrast to the universal "Nature" of the Nineteenth Century. Hughes accomplishes this through impressive imagery, poetic devices, all of which evoke powerful emotions from the reader.

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     The subject of the poem, a fish species called pike, are known to be voracious predators, disliked and even feared by some anglers but greatly admired by others because of their size and the persistent fight they put up when hooked. Hughes uses this powerful fish in his illustration of nature.  The poem starts with a young, beautiful pike dancing in the water, but moves quickly to the sinister side of the mature fish. A pike with hooked jaws and fangs, "With a sag belly and the grin it was born with," represents the untamed side of nature (ln ...

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