Compare how Ted Hughes writes about animals in two of his poems.

Response

In both "Work and Play" and "Hawk Roosting" Ted Hughes writes about birds. Both the hawk and the swallow are portrayed as beautiful creatures. The hawk is described as an extremely violent and arrogant animal that believes it is god ("I hold creation in my foot"). Hughes allows the reader to see that the bird is quite foolish, as we obviously know that it is not as powerful as it thinks it is. Hughes makes his hawk a very violent creature with its "allotment of death". This is quite shocking and almost repulsive. In contrast to the arrogant and almost repulsive attitude of the hawk, the swallow is portrayed as a creature of beauty and grace ("a rainbow of purples") although there is a suggestion of violence ("whiplash") in the swallow too.

Hughes uses a variety of linguistic devices to portray his swallow and hawk. He uses personification as the major device to portray the hawk. The hawk is given human qualities and a voice that Hughes uses to portray his hawk's unique personality. Hughes uses violent images to add impact to the hawk's violent nature ("tearing off heads"). Similarly, Hughes makes use of vivid imagery to portray the beauty of the swallow in "Work and Play" ("Dips her glow in the pond"). This allows readers to conjure up their own mental pictures. However, the swallow is portrayed as even more beautiful by contrasting its natural beauty with the ugliness of the humans in the poem. This is echoed in the structure of the poem, where the swallow is clearly separated in each verse. However, this is changed at the end to leave the reader with a lasting image of beauty. Hughes uses structure in "Hawk Roosting" to portray the hawk as an orderly animal: keeping the verses the same length creates an image of order.

The hawk is portrayed as a violent beast. It comes across as very arrogant and has a very limited view of the world. I think that the hawk was portrayed very effectively as a killing machine. It made me think about how a real hawk might view the world. So I think Hughes portrayed the hawk very well, making it seem as if these could be the thoughts of a real animal. The swallow is portrayed as a very beautiful and elegant creature and I feel that Hughes created such beautiful images to inspire awe and respect for the swallow in the reader