The people in this poem are seen as being selfish and undignified, which creates a comparison to the Stag who is graceful, and it makes the whole event seem very uncivilised.
This poem shows the horror of hunting animals, and using personification makes the idea seem even more inhumane. The words used to describe the stag are usually associated with humans. This makes you ask yourself if this animal were human would it be being treated in such a way, and if not, why do we feel we have the right to treat weaker creatures in such an appalling manner.
The poem gives us the feeling that the stag is in great pain, the use of words such as “weeping” and sentences such as “his heart became just a club” reflect this. This use of word manipulates the reader into feeling a great pathos for the stag.
The end of the poem has a great build in tension, it seems threatening and it has been used effectively throughout the poem. It is quite a distressing poem and the anti-climax created makes us feel a great anger towards, not only the hunters, but also the spectators. The ambiguity at whether the stag dies or not, or perhaps whether the crowd did not see the death, leaves us feeling incensed at the disappointment of the gathering.
The idea of the natural and the ‘man-made’ world merging is very important in this, as with most of Ted Hughes poems. It has double entendre, on the one hand hunters are about a stag chasing this poem, on the other hand it is more of a metaphor used to demonstrate the destructiveness of the human-nature.
Personification is used throughout the poem to put the stag on equal grounds to the hunters. Hughes is trying to put across the idea of the inhumane way in which humans invade and destroy the natural world.
Roe-Deer, as with The Stag, has a simple title. We believe that it is set on the edge of moorland, we believe this to be the case as Hughes lived in Devon, and that it is based on a personal experience. It is written in first person singular, and is ten couplets long.
Ted Hughes also writes roe-Deer. It is about the brief encounter that takes place between a Roe-Deer and Hughes. He uses this incident to relay a deeper message of the crossing of two worlds- Mans and the Natural world. As with The Stag he uses imagery to great effect.
It is the beginning of the Day and the poet is driving along a road through moorland. It is dark and grey which makes the atmosphere of the poem very sombre. This mood contrasts with the “deer stood in the road, alerted”. Hughes describes the deer as being “blue-dark”; this is possibly due to the first glimpse of the deer being their silhouette on the snow, which can appear to be “blue-dark”.
The word “alerted” is separated from the rest of the sentence to add to the reader’s ability to imagine the scene. This encounter is also rare and so it is also used to signify this.
The next couplet puts across the first important idea of this poem. “They happened into my dimension” this notion of ‘them and us’ being in different dimensions is interesting. It is similar to the concept that is put across in The Stag. Ted Hughes seems to believe that he and the Deer live in different worlds.
Hughes uses the word “planted”, which enables us to imagine the Deer more clearly, as he is referring to the tree-like way the antlers of the Deer grow. This word conveys the image as capturing a moment in time and that it is still. He is able to tell the age of the Deer, we assume, by the branches of their antlers.
“secret deerhood”, by secret we believe Hughes means that it is unknown to man. “deerhood” is a use of personification of the word manhood, it is a coined word, and it enables the reader to see the Deer and Man as being on an equal footing.
By using the word “screen” to describe the snow we are reminded that the man is in a car, and that his view may be partially impaired by the dense snow. He uses “abnormal” at the end of the couplet, which again reminds us of the idea of the different dimensions.
The “disintegration” may be referring to the line between the two dimensions. The word “stared” again symbolises the fact that time is standing still. There is then enjambment into the next couplet that reflects what is going on in Hughes mind. He imagines that the deer are waiting for him to tell them the ‘password’ so that he can enter into their world.
Hughes uses the same image as in the stag; the division that is separating their two worlds has disappeared. Again he illustrates his idea of the “disintegration”, but in a more literal way, he is describing the physical barriers disappearing, “no longer trees, nor the road”, that separate him and the deer.
The next verse contains only one line, which mirrors the way the idea is suddenly coming into his head, as one clear thought.
We are then brought out of the poet’s head and into the events of the poem, which has changed pace. The image of the “upright they rode their legs” is an extraordinary way to describe the way they move. It also leads us to imagine their legs working like a clockwork toy. “Snow-lonely field” is a lovely way to describe the desolate way in which the snow is covering the fields like a blanket.
The Deer then leave Hughes and return back to there own dimension- the natural world- and Hughes is left to go to his. This is described in such a way so as to make the departure seem peaceful and right, unlike most good byes. We are also reminded of the snow, by the words used to describe the way that the Deer leave; we think of snowmen and reindeer.
The poet then uses boil to describe the way the snow is falling, a word that is not generally associated with snow. Instead of saying that the Deer disappear into the distance he says “The snow took them”, which is a much more interesting way to describe it. It also creates the idea of every last trace of their encounter vanishing, even “their nearby hoofprints as well”
The last couplet is short and the use of the snow echoes the “inspiration” that the poet feels. This ending is an example of Bathos, the tone lowers and it mirrors the surreal events of the meeting that are ended very suddenly and rather flatly.
I found that Ted Hughes is very good at using metaphors to relay his beliefs and views on our society. Roe-Deer was my favourite of the two poems because it was a more peaceful and beautiful story than the horrific tale of the Stag.
