"The Lamb", "The Tyger", "Hawk Roosting" and "The Jaguar",

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William Blake and Ted Hughes

From the titles of "The Lamb", "The Tyger", "Hawk Roosting" and "The Jaguar", it seems that these poems are about annimals but it quickly becomes apparent that they are in fact much more than simple descriptions.  Annimals are symbols which describe metaphors about Man.  Blake uses a wide variety of poetic forms in songs of innocence and experience.  Hughes (1930-1996) believes man thinks he is God compared to all other creatures, in connection to this, he wrote a poem called "Hawk Roosting."

"Hawk Roosting" consists of the whole poem being in first person- a hawk's eye view of the world.  The hawk takes himself to be the exact centre of creation, assuming that trees, air, Sun and Earth were made for his convenience. "The convenience of the high trees", trees being the hawk's habitat and  "the air's buoyancy and the Sun's ray", thermals for him to fly in. He then says "are of advantage to me", meaning they were made for his uses.  In contrast to this, Man believes the earth is there for his advantage.  Hughes explains in his poem that the purpose of creation has been solely to produce the hawk, just as humans believe God created the earth just to produce them.  "It took the whole of creation to produce my foot, my each feather: now I hold creation in my foot"  ~ Man rules the earth .That the world revolves around Man's bidding and all other  creatures exist only as prey "I kill where I please because it is all mine." The hawk regards himself as stronger than any change that occurs in his kingdom and views death just as man does. It seems obvious that the hawk has the feeling of greed; a human characteristic. This poem symbolised man in the form of a hawk.

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"The Jaguar" was also written by Ted Hughes, a poem which was split into two halves bringing up the element of personification. The first half of the poem descibes animals in a zoo using similies and metaphores. It creates a funny image for the reader imagining the animals in their cages "The apes yawn and adore their fleas in the sun." and "The parrots shriek as if they were on fire, or strut Like cheap tarts to attract the stroller with the nut." This also brings up the idea of how animals are spoiled, never having to hunt for ...

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