Analysis of the poem Wind

Wind This poem is by the poet Ted Hughes and is mainly about the wind. There are many different images in this poem, the main one of course being the wind as indicated by the title. Although this is the main image, there are quite a few others too. In this poem, Ted Hughes uses many aural techniques to create images in the reader's mind, such as alliteration, metaphors and similes, to name a few. One of the most prominent images in this poem is the landscape which the wind is traveling over. The description of the landscape gives the reader the image of a very dull and dismal place, like you would find in a horror movie or something. This image comes from the descriptive words used. For example, the poet uses the words 'darkness' and 'blinding wet' which aren't really counted as happy things but they are generally the type of thing you will find in a horror story. Ted Hughes personifies the landscape with things such as 'the booming hills' and 'skyline a grimace', this makes the landscape seem like it is human and is being affected by the wind and it gives the reader the image of then landscape being afraid of the wind, the line 'fields quivering' especially gives this impression because you can imagine the fields sort of trembling in fear as the wind passes. The poet uses onomatopoeia in his poem such as 'crashing' and 'booming', which emphasizes the horror of the

  • Word count: 937
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Compare and contrast the treatment of weeds in these two poems. Consider connotations, tones and attitudes expressed, language techniques used and ideas derived from each and say which you prefer and why.

Compare and contrast the treatment of weeds in these two poems. Consider connotations, tones and attitudes expressed, language techniques used and ideas derived from each and say which you prefer and why. The two poems Tall Nettles by Edward Thomas and Thistles by Ted Hughes can be both compared and contrasted by the treatment of weeds in the poems. The connotations, tones, attitudes expressed as well as the language techniques used and the ideas derived from these all add to the central theme of weeds and their treatment put forward by Thomas and Hughes. There is a similarity in the connotations and ideas derived from the respective titles of each poem, and in the way that both poems have a sentimental theme in them. However the two poems are contrasted by the tones and attitudes expressed towards weeds, highlighted by the language techniques used. One comparison that can be made between the poems is that the title of each poem has negative connotations. "Nettles" and "Thistles" are both annoying, spiky, irritating weeds. The connotations and ideas derived from these titles give the reader expectations of the poem as being negative and pessimistic, the reader has already formed opinions and prejudices towards the subjects of these poems based on the 'baggage' attached to these weeds. The ideas formed from reading the title of each poem are the same for both poems, thus

  • Word count: 816
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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An analysis of the poem 'Swifts' by Ted Hughes.

An analysis of the poem 'Swifts' by Ted Hughes. Ted Hughes said of his poetry that he aimed to "capture animals" in words. Indeed his poem 'Swifts' as the title concurs is almost entirely devoted to the description that is 'capturing' in writing, the movement and behaviour of a swift. A swift is a fork-tailed bird that is related to martens or swallows and is a summer visitor in Britain. Hughes has captured within this poem the appearance, movement and behaviour of swifts through straight forward, plain, punchy syntax, bold statements without adornment, imagery, irregular and erratic line length (the form in which the poem is written), rhyme, rhythm and sound effects. Ted Hughes writes 'Swifts' in the first person, in roughly four line stanzas; he addresses the reader directly using irregular and erratic line length to mimic the flight of the birds. Immediately within the first stanza the punchy syntax combined to the rhythm set up by the highly punctuated and erratic line length captures the movement of swifts. Lines are quite frequently broken or interrupted, or run on to the next line, suggesting the fast, erratic flight of the birds. Furthermore the Hughes immediately establishes the tone and mood of the poem within the opening stanza; it's the "Fifteenth of May"-springtime "Cherry Blossom". Yet whilst Hughes reacts with excitement at watching the punctual arrival

  • Word count: 1118
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Comparative essay - Langston Hughes poems "Mother to Son" and "The Negro Speaks of Rivers".

Comparative essay Both of Langston Hughes poems "Mother to Son" and "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" express his opinions and hopes about racism. "Mother to Son" has a much less "formal" dialect than that of the "Negro Speaks of Rivers". Also, "the Negro Speaks of Rivers" has a slightly irregular beat in comparison to "mother to son", which uses a more regular beat, which is used to the effect of creating a sort of "staircase beat", which is appropriate because the main focus of the poem is about how life is like walking up a staircase. Metaphors and similes used in the two poems vary, the poem "The Negro Speaks of rivers" uses a lot of metaphors and a lot of similes, whereas the poem "Mother to Son" uses a great deal of metaphors and no similes. The poems are very different from one another if you look at how they are displayed, but if you look at them in terms of their overall message, the issue about racism against blacks in America, they are very similar. The language in "Mother to Son" is very informal. The language used in the poem is like this because the person talking in the poem is talking to their son, i.e. "mother to son", therefore the Langston Hughes feels that the poem need not be formal. However this informal dialect may also be down to the fact that the person speaking throughout the entire poem has a strong American Southern accent, this also effects the

  • Word count: 1197
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Thistles - Ted Hughes Ted Hughes is a renowned, restrained poet for his ability to be intricate, and his concealment of emotion

Thistles - Ted Hughes Ted Hughes is a renowned, restrained poet for his ability to be intricate, and his concealment of emotion in insignificant forms of life. In the poem, Thistles, Hughes personalizes Thistles; such trivial plant, to successfully evoke the lives of human beings, while emphasizing nature's dominance over men. The poem also deals with the idea of history being repeated in a cycle, the dead being "resurrected". Such complex ideas are effectively conveyed through language techniques, diction and versification. Thistles is an insignificant form of life, which are generally disregarded by other superior forms of life (cows and farmers), losing its' identity of existence. However the poet personifies the plant, giving it life. 'Thistles' begins with a description of the location of the trivial plant and it's physical appearance. "Against the rubber tongues of cows and the hoeing hands of men / Thistles spike the summer air / And crackle open under a blue-black pressure." The thistles are situated in a field amidst cows and farmers, yet among such serene background, they appear to have an aggressive purpose. Alliteration is present, "Blue-black" with the repetition of the 'b' sound, emphasizing the immense pressure they are in, the Thistles literally bursting with reproductive energy. Also, the alliteration implies the imagery of a bruise, caused by a physical

  • Word count: 712
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The Wind.

THE WIND Hughes' admiration of nature is often set against his lack of admiration of man. These things are balanced against each other in several of his poems such as wind In Wind, there is a conflict between the man and the power of the wind. the poem, written in the first person, describes an exceptionally stormy night. Hughes uses different kinds of imagery to show this: he imagines that the house is like a ship, tossed on the waves - "far out at sea all night". He uses personification to give the wind an identity: Hughes writes about the wind "stampeding the fields" as if it is a cowboy deliberately making the grass and crops in the fields move violently, like stampeding cattle. He allows the wind to have power of its own, as he speaks of the way the "wind wielded/ Blade-light", as if it is dangerous and deadly; he accepts his weak strength in the force of its onslaught. All through the poem, the wind seems to be deliberately creating disorder: it "flung a magpie away" and makes the "window tremble" as if fearful in the face of the wind. The poem uses onomatopoeia, too, as it describes the sounds that the wind makes: "bang and vanish"; "the house rang like a goblet"; even the roof moves and "the stones cry out under the horizon". In this poem we feel the way man is powerless when nature is at its most violent. Particularly vivid, I feel, is the way Hughes "scaled

  • Word count: 1235
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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How Does Hughes Create An Effective Description of a Windy Day?

How Does Hughes Create An Effective Description of a Windy Day? Hughes uses a variety of poetic techniques to create an effective description of a windy day. He uses a lot of figurative language, such as metaphor, simile and personification. Hughes also creates the effect of a windy day using structural techniques such as enjambement, and the sound technique onomatopoeia. He often uses interesting lexis to help our imaginations. Hughes uses a lot of figurative language in this poem. One particularly effective technique is metaphor. He starts the poem with the metaphor - "This house has been far out at sea all night" This is very effective because it creates a very strong picture in your mind. "Far out" suggests isolation, and a mention of night suggests danger and fear. Another effective example of metaphor is "The skyline a grimace". This suggests that the whole view and landscape is grotesquely distorted. A grimace means to pull a strange face, so this makes it an example of personification. The mental image is very clear too. Simile is another example of figurative language use by Hughes in this particular poem. "Flexing like the lens of a mad eye" This suggests that the view is constantly moving with the wind and the movement in my mind is visualised as everything bending, swaying and generally looking contorted. Similes are used throughout Hughes's poem.

  • Word count: 417
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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In the poem Wind, Ted Hughes describes the experience of a windstorm, using powerful imagery to convey the power and impact of the weather.

Wind. Naomi Westerman. In the poem "Wind," Ted Hughes describes the experience of a windstorm, using powerful imagery to convey the power and impact of the weather. The poem is in six four line stanzas; the first two being written in the third person, before switching to the first person for the third, fifth and sixth stanza. Throughout the poem, Hughes makes frequent use of metaphoric imagery and personification to get across the idea of weather, and the constituents of weather, wind and rain, being a real, physical force, and to draw the relationship between mankind and nature, and to suggest mankind at the mercy of nature. The first stanza acts to set the scene. The opening line, starting with "This house" places the poem in a specific physical location, while in the same line the use of the metaphorical imagery of the house being "far out at sea" leads the reader to immediately infer that the house is in unusual circumstances, in this case the extreme weather making it feel as though the house is out in the sea, at the mercy of the elements (as a house cannot physically be built out at sea); the addition of the modifier "all night" reinforces the idea that this is a temporary state lasting just one night. The phrase "out at sea" is also reminiscent of a ship at sea, which by its very nature is at the mercy of the elements; this reminder reinforces the vulnerability of

  • Word count: 1137
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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A Review of the Work and Play poem By Ted Hughes

A Review of the Work and Play poem By Ted Hughes This poem is about a comparison between a swallow and human beings that are on a day trip. The swallow, is at work in the poem and is feeling content. The humans, however, are supposed to be relaxing and having fun, but they feel miserable instead. With this, there is irony here with the title, as the swallow is working but having fun. The writer, I feel, is being biased in his poem. He tends to be in favour of the swallow. The poem is describing the people as 'polluting' the environment. The message of the poem is that we shouldn't destroy our environment and our health by 'baking' ourselves under the sun. The poem talks about the tourists arriving and then leaving unhappily. The writer is also describing the swallow's day, what it does to entertain itself and returning to its home at night. The poem is split into four, unequal stanzas. The first three stanzas, start off with a description of the swallow and then humans. The last stanza, however, starts off with a description of the humans and then the swallow. This makes us stop, think and more eager to finish the poem, as it's a change of pattern. The writer, perhaps wants to leave the reader with a positive and happy image rather than a negative and discomforting image. In the first three stanzas, the end of the two longest lines rhyme, forming a sort of rhyming couplet,

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Animal Imagery in Ted Hughes Poetry - The Jaguar, The Thought-Fox and Ghost Crabs.

Animal Imagery in Ted Hughes' Poetry Ted Hughes was born in West Yorkshire in 1930 and studied at Mexborough Grammar School, Pempbroke College, Cambridge. He shifted his studies from English to Archeology and Anthropology and became very much interested in mythology. Being considered as a poet of the Romantic period, Hughes widely uses pathetic fallacy in his poems. Inspired and influenced by D.H. Lawrence and Shamanism, Hughes makes animal imagery become his trademark in most of his poems such as The Jaguar, The Thought-Fox and Ghost Crabs. He believes in the purity of animals, which also functions as their strength and also as their superiority to man. Hughes' animal imagery is mostly used as a symbolic comparison to human beings and it puts forth how animals are in fact closer to the natural source of the universe. Portraying animals as ultimately strong creatures, Hughes draws the picture of man as limited and distant from natural instincts. To understand the usage of Hughes' animal imagery it would be better to first take a closer look at The Jaguar. In the poem it becomes plain to see that Hughes uses animal imagery very strongly to put forth the conformist society in which human beings live in. The poem describes animals in a zoo and their psychological states. Hughes begins to his poem by describing various animals such as monkeys and parrots and finally mentions

  • Word count: 5442
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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