Work and Play & Hawk Roosting

onomatopoeia, it describes the swallow to be very fast, “voltage”. A “whiplash” swimmer” this represents the speed of the swallow, “whiplash” because when you travel very fast, your neck will move back. Also it is described as a “fish of the air” this suggests that like the fish swims perfectly in the water, the swallow fly’s perfectly through the air. Ted Hughes represents the negative side, starting with “but”, this shows there are two sides, a positive and a negative. “A serpent of cars”, a serpent represented evil in the Garden of Eden, and now is represented as a long line of cars, i.e. traffic. “Slake” is a quench of first, this describes the day to be hot, “its fever in ocean” this tells us that the humans are going towards an area with lots of water, beach. “Will play and be idle or else it will bust”, this also shows that they will play on the beach and be “idle” as not moving at all, this may be because the people are sun bathing.   Stanza 2 starts with a positive approach, with the swallow in a shape of an arrow when it is flying “ the barbed harpoon”. “she flings from the furnace”, furnace represents the sun, and the swallow is moving away from it, “a rainbow of purples” so when the sun shines on the swallow, it describes the colours, purple because the swallow is a blue type of bird, “dips her glow in the pond and is perfect”, dips her glow suggests that the “rainbow of purple” is reflecting back off the pond which makes the scenery look beautiful. “But the serpent of cars that collapsed on the beach” this represents the traffic and congestion   Theme: Images: Sounds: Diction: Poets Viewpoint: Your Viewpoint: