“A blue-dark knot of glittering voltage,”
This language heightens and sustains the interest of the reader.
Each poem has a structure. In ‘Work and play’ the structure emphasises the definition between the two comparisons. The ‘play’ part of the poem is always indented which visually separates the two. This is also very effective in ‘The Warm and the Cold’, where they are separated. This acts as a visual aid. The last verse of that poem is formatted in a different way which makes it more prominent. The line “a star falls’ is very powerful as it is separated from the rest of the poem.
The third poem, Hawk Roosting illustrates the contrast between the childish naïvety of the Hawk and the conceit and arrogance of the hawk as if depicted an autocratic leader.
“My eye has permitted no change. I am going to keep things like this.”
“I kill where I please because it is all mine.”
The creatures that are mentioned in the poems portray individual characters. He personifies animals and objects.
“And the tractor, streaming with sweat, raging and trembling and rejoicing.”
The hawk is seen as a great ruler of the treetops “the earth’s face upwards to me for my inspection” and the swallow is clearly a creator bringing about a new season “the seamstress of summer.”
Hawk roosting shows the hypocrisy of Ted Hughes. He describes the hawk as being conceited and arrogant but in fact it is actually humans that are conceited and arrogant. The hawk states that he wants to keep things the way they are and not changes them but he does not hold the power to do this. Humans hold this power, but in the other poems, ‘Warm and Cold’ “Work and Play’ ‘Tractor’ and ‘Wind’ it shows that the humans are as powerless as the hawk.
“Now deep in chairs, in front of the great fire, we grip our hearts and cannot entertain book, thought or each other.”
“While man eating flies jab electric shock needles but what can they do?”
“The sweating farmers turn in their sleep like oxen on spits”
“It ridicules me – trap of iron stupidity”
The subjects discussed in the poems are all inter-linked. The first two poems ‘Work and Play’ and ‘Warm and Cold’ relate to animals and how they contrast to their environment. In the animals natural setting they might seem to be exposed to the elements but Ted Hughes turns this round so that instead they are portrayed as warm, cosy and insulated. They seem to be protected form the evils of the elements.
“The past and the future are jaws of a steel vice.
But the carp in its depth like a planet in its heavens.”
The poem ‘tractor’ illustrates man’s vain struggle to defeat nature, for example ploughing the land - getting the best from the land and master the machine. The machine has been put in an impossible situation
“I squirt commercial sure-fire down the black throat, it just coughs. It ridicules me – a trap of iron stupidity.”
The poem ‘wind’ shows the force of nature and how it disables man.
“Our hearts cannot entertain book, thought or each other”
The subject in ‘hawk roosting’ is how the hawk sees life. It shows how it feels superior but how naïve it actually is.
“Nothing has change since I began. My eye has permitted no change.”
I enjoyed ‘Wind’ very much. The reason for this is that it shows the power and ferocity of the Wind.
“The wind wielded blade-light, black and emerald, flexing like the lens of a mad eye.”
The wind is described as powerful and unstoppable. The intensity of the poem is shown by the power of the descriptive words. For example words such as “fire blazing.”, “the window tremble.”, “crashing through the darkness.” and “the booming hills.”
The poem I most prefer is “Hawk Roosting”. This is because it shows how naïve people can be. This is so even though its is being narrated by a hawk, it is actually written by a person. This also shows characteristics of humans. The poem shows how the hawk is thinking but if you look deeper it is actually the thoughts of humans. Some people are very self-centered imagining themselves to be more important than anyone or anything else in the world. The naïvety is also a characteristic of humans. Each person thinks that they can control what is going on in the world but in reality they are influencing the problem. For example global warming. The hawk is blinded by its arrogance which clearly a characteristic of humans. This can be seen in school, at work and especially in political parties. Hitler displayed this well in the Second World War.
Ted Hughes is a talented writer. He uses themes and raises interesting contemporary issues to promote his views. His use of surreal imagery adds to the intense effect of his poems. His use of language greatly impacts on the reader. He strategically uses structure to emphasise his comparative writing and his deep feelings. He does this very effectively. For example, when he contrasts two subjects he clarifies both on the page and also in the text. He uses similes to illustrate his use of imagery. His poems have a powerful influence on the reader because of his extensive use of similes, metaphors and his ability to immediately conjure up the mood of the poems.
