How does Ted Hughes convey the ruthless power and violence in animals through the poems “Pike” and “Hawk Roosting”?
How does Ted Hughes convey the ruthless power and violence in animals through the poems "Pike" and "Hawk Roosting"? Animals are living things that we see in our everyday lives yet we don't seem to give them any importance. Very few people give them the respect they deserve. The poems I am going to compare are based on animals. The animals are given human qualities, which are done purposely by Ted Hughes to make us realize what we really are. Very few poets have chosen animals to take the lead roles in their poems. Ted Hughes is one of those few poets who have taken animals to play the lead role in his poems. Many of Ted Hughes poems have their subjects on predatory animals and birds. The latent feeling of violence and power in untamed creatures fascinated Hughes. In his poems, animals and birds are not decorative or incidental but central symbols of vitality. "Pike" and "Hawk Roosting" are the two poems of Ted Hughes, which I am going to compare. These two poems convey the theme of violence and power very clearly. The selfishness and self-centered attitude of the animals is another prominent theme in the play. These themes are brought out in various ways and various lines. Both animals, the "Hawk" and the "Pike" make it very clear that they want to be the dominant creatures in their respected habitat. Ted Hughes always has most of the most of the poems he writes with the
"Hawk Roosting" by Ted Hughes.
"Hawk Roosting" by Ted Hughes In a successful Dramatic Monologue the voice of a speaker is an important element. Show how particular features of the language used by the speaker are effective in revealing the speaker's personality to the audience. "Hawk Roosting" by Ted Hughes is a successful Dramatic Monologue in which the voice of the speaker, the Hawk, is an important element. Many features of the language Ted Hughes uses in this poem reveal various aspects of the personality that the Hawk has acquired to the reader. One of the most distinct aspects of the Hawks personality is of arrogance. In stanza two the reader is told of the many advantages that the Hawk believes nature has given to him especially: "The convenience of the high trees! The air's buoyancy and the sun's ray are of an advantage to me." Ted Hughes' use of the word "convenience" shows that the Hawk assumes that the trees are there for his use and have only been formed for his advantage. The use of the word "buoyancy" to describe the air not only suggests the air's great ability to keep the Hawk high in the sky but it also indicates the Hawks slight cheerfulness and resilience. His arrogance is continued in the following line where he describes the position of the earth below him: "And the earth's face upward for my inspection". This metaphor suggests that the Hawk feels superior and more important
Hawk Roosting.
This poem uses the hawk to explore the effects of power. This is done by telling the poem through the hawks' eyes and personifying it so the hawk can have a voice to share its thoughts and feelings with us. The opening line of the poem states the hawk's superiority by saying "I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed." This shows he is higher up than all the other animals and therefore more superior and more important. Also by saying "my eyes closed" he suggests that nothing can bother him and that he is untouchable because he is so superior and no other animal would dare to cross him because he thinks he is so powerful. When he says "no falsifying dream" it shows that he thinks he is perfect so he doesn't dream about being able to do things because he can already do them really well. This also shows he is superior and powerful. Again he is shown as powerful when it says "...hooked head and feet....perfect kills and eat" it shows this because he tells us about his hooked head and feet which he considers his best weapons. Also the fact that he says kills first, then eats shows his prowess in the fact that he prefers to eat than to kill and he is so powerful that he can kill anytime he wants just for fun and not just killing so he can eat. The superiority carries in the hawk talking about how the environment he lives in is especially made for him because the high trees
In "Hawk Roosting", the harshness and cruelty of nature is important, but Hughes shows that there is a form of beauty in this.
In "Hawk Roosting", the harshness and cruelty of nature is important, but Hughes shows that there is a form of beauty in this. Through giving the hawk thoughts and using the first person, the cruel arrogance of the bird is shown: "the earth faces upwards for my inspection" and "I will kill where I please" are powerful statements. Hughes wants to show how controlling the bird is and the neat, controlling form of the language reflects this. There is a beauty in the concise, controlled aspects of the poem. The poem is written from the point of view of the hawk, a bird of prey, who sits roosting in a tree. He sees the air and earth as if they are solely made for his benefit. He sees himself as the ultimate being of Creation. He claims he has power to revolve the world. He has power over life and death. He sees himself as utterly in control of the world and wishes to keep things like this. The hawk uses a lot of pompous-sounding phrases like The convenience of the high trees! /...of advantage to me/...for my inspection. They help emphasise the proud attitude of the hawk. He sounds a bit like a businessman wanting to impress a rival. There is a lot of emphasis on the hawk's mastery of all he sees. He speaks in a very exaggerated way: I hold Creation in my foot...I revolve it [Creation] all slowly...it is all mine. This stresses the hawk's feeling that he alone is dominant.
Ted Hughes: the poet.
Ted Hughes: the poet I have studied five poems written by Ted Hughes. There are two poems that contrast two opposites and there are two poems that illustrate the power of nature and how it defeats man. The last poem is completely different to the others. It is narrated not by Ted Hughes but it is written as if by a Hawk. Hence the name Hawk Roosting. The other poems I have studied are 'Warm and Cold', 'Work and Play', 'Tractor' and 'Wind'. The first two poems I will be looking at are 'Work and Play' and 'Warm and Cold'. The poems illustrate the contrasts between the two words in the title. 'Work and Play' is an unusual description of work and how it differs from play. Ted Hughes describes the work in the poem as being graceful and effortless. "The swallow of summer, she toils all summer." "The seamstress of summer, she scissors the blue into shapes and she sews it" The play in the poem is described as being painful and cumbersome. "A scamper of colours which roll like tomatoes." But the holiday people are laid out like the wounded" Ted Hughes uses imagery in the poem to portray his feelings. The language used is very elegant, especially when describing the swallow in 'Work and play.' "A blue-dark knot of glittering voltage," This language heightens and sustains the interest of the reader. Each poem has a structure. In 'Work and play' the structure emphasises the
Foot Binding.
Foot Binding. Throughout history the human population has done many obtuse things in the name of physical beauty. These methods range from fairly simple and inoffensive (such as make up) to extremely the horrific (lipo-suction and foot binding). Foot binding in China is basically exactly what the name suggests. The binding happens to young girls from the ages of three to seven years of age. Sometimes even later than this if the girl was needed to help her family, as many peasant girls did. The purpose of foot binding was to stop the growth of the feet, as small feet were prized in China. As was said earlier the biding of the feet usually began between the ages of three and seven. Ideally three was the best age as the bones of the foot would not have fully developed and would allow the foot longer to change its shape. To bind the foot a bandage ten feet long and two inches wide was used. The foot of the girl was bathed in hot water containing herbs and then was massaged. What happened next was that all of the toes, except for the first, were broken, turned under and pressed to the sole of the foot. The foot was then bound tightly with the cloth strips. Next the arches of the feet were broken so that the foot could be pulled straight with the leg and so shortening the distance between the toes and the heel. Illustration shows the foot-binding process. The drawing is
"The Jaguar," by Ted Hughes.
The Jaguar "The Jaguar," by Ted Hughes, Ted Hughes explains his admiration for the Jaguar in this poem. The poem is describing a zoo where most of the animals, except the jaguar and the parrots, are being lazy and boring. We can tell this from the way Hughes describes their movement and appearance. He shows his enthusiasm and passion for the jaguar by using many metaphors and hyperboles. Although he does not share the same like towards the parrots, he does go into great detail to describe their actions. He explains how they "sell themselves like cheap tarts" to the on looking audience and remarks on the way they "shriek" and walk. One of the most bold and eye-catching ways he shows his enthusiasm for the jaguar is going from the second verse to the third. As the jaguar comes into the poem, he immediately picks up the pace, leaving behind a slow, dull atmosphere created by the other animals. He does this by using descriptive words such as "yawn," "fatigued," and "sleepers," to emphasize the slow pace in the first two verses. He moves on in the third verse using words like "runs," and "hurrying," and "furious." This immediately and effectively shows his overwhelming admiration for the jaguar over the other animals. From the first verse and then from the third on, the poet uses enjambment to carry on the feeling on between verses, for example, between the first and second;
Comparison of Ted Hughes poems: The Warm And The Cold and Work and Play
Comparison of Ted Hughes poems: The Warm And The Cold and Work and Play The first thing that you notice about these two poems is the similarities in subject. Work and Play and The Warm and the Cold both feature the presence of wildlife and the countryside. The Warm and the Cold: And the butterfly in its mummy Like a viol in its case And the owl in its feathers Like a doll in its lace. Work and Play The swallow of summer, she toils all the summer A blue-dark knot of glittering voltage A whiplash swimmer, a fish of the air. Both of these verses project the main theme of each poem as the countryside and wildlife. There are though, some differences. Like the layout of the poems. Work and Play is set out with three lines at the start of each stanza then five small lines at the end of the stanza, of which there are four. The end stanza changes to one beginning sentence and four ending the piece. The Warm and the Cold however, has three verses of twelve lines, then a finishing part where seven lines are spaced out to give a slowing down effect. This poem also has a recognisable effect where nearly every other line is a simile. E.g. But the trout is in its hole Like a chuckle in a sleeper. The hare strays down the highway Like a root going deeper. The snail is dry in the outhouse Like a seed in sunflower. The owl is pale on the gatepost Like a clock on its
Hawk RoostingAniela Baseley 13 FO The poem is written by poet Ted Hughes. In his life time Hughes has published many poems about nature and animals.
Hawk Roosting Aniela Baseley 13 FO The poem is written by poet Ted Hughes. In his life time Hughes has published many poems about nature and animals. The poem has six stanzas, all written in the first person, with no discernable rhyming scheme. The poem represents a hawk, as it roosts on a tree top, watching over the world and contemplating life. This hawk sees itself, as the centre of the world and the best of creation. He believes he controls the world, bringing death to anything below him that dares to question his authority. The poem shows the reader that nature isn't always beautiful, and the hawk is a metaphor of humans, because humans dominate the world, as does this hawk. The poem is written with a chilling attitude to power. In the first stanza, the hawk is perched on top of a tree, awaiting nightfall. We know this because the hawk is 'Roosting.' His arrogance is already clear, " Inaction, no falsifying dream" this indicates to the reader, that even when the hawk is sleeping, he does not dream 'needless' dreams. The hawk just has focus on killing. Alliteration is then used "hooked head," this extenuates the line with a sound, as well as the hawks egoism and obsession with itself. " I sit on top of the wood, my eyes closed," conveys a sense of forceful peace, as if the hawk holds so much power that it is fearless, and can roost
Ted Hughes, the thought fox, is an effective poem on both a literal and a symbolic level. Would you agree?
Ted Hughes, the thought fox, is an effective poem on both a literal and a symbolic level. Would you agree? The thought fox has often been acknowledge as one of the best masterpiece created by Ted Hughes. At the same time it is one of the most frequently anthologised of all Hughes's poems. If you are familiar with the poetry of Ted Hughes, you will know that he uses animals not purely for their own sakes but as a vehicle for commenting on the human condition. As he was brought up in the Yorkshire countryside, he uses aspects of his experience there to develop his poetic themes. Just like the other masterpiece done by Ted Hughes, Hawk in the rain, the Thought Fox is also a poem which deals with the presence of an animal. At the most basis level of this poem, this animal which will be encompassed is outlined by Ted Hughes from the beginning, the title of the poem. The title of this poem, which is "the thought fox", has inherently suggested the present of a fox. As to fully appreciate this poem, one must fully understand both the literal and symbolic meaning of the fox, as the fox plays an important role in this poem. The thought fox is a poem about writing a poem. He is alone at the loneliest time of the night, and the most mysterious - midnight. He is a writer, as we can tell from line 4, where he mentions "this blank page where my fingers move" He is obviously waiting for
