Several of Ted Hughes' poems feature extreme weather. Write about how he conveys his feelings about weather in three of the poems.
Several of Ted Hughes' poems feature extreme weather. Write about how he conveys his feelings about weather in three of the poems Ted Hughes Regards the elements as a powerful force in many of his poems and he is in awe of the weather particularly noticeable in 'Tractor', 'Warm and Cold' and 'Wind' in which Hughes seems to be quarantined because the storms are so violent that all the inhabitants of the house can do is shelter inside. This poem accentuates the power of nature. The house and storm themselves signify the opposing forces of nature and civilisation. Man is at the mercy of the weather frail and vulnerable in comparison for example he describes the weather conditions in 'Tractor' as "hell of ice" and "head pincering" emphasising the man's vulnerability. This can be associated with the use of language in Wind, words such as "Blinding" relate to man in the same way that "head pincering" is an assault on man. Personification is frequently used in making the elements 'come to life' by using vocabulary such as 'stampeding' and 'booming' in Wind. Another example of personification can be found in Warm and Cold; "Moonlight freezes the shaggy world Like a mammoth of ice The past and the future. Are the jaws of a steel vice." Hughes has taken some interesting liberties with language in these four lines. The moonlight is said to freeze the world, when in fact it only
Compare the poems: 'The Bull Moses' and 'Bags Of Meat' for evidence of different attitudes towards animals
Compare the poems: 'The Bull Moses' and 'Bags Of Meat' for evidence of different attitudes towards animals Both poems seem to be about similar animals on a 'face-value' level, but when I examined the poems more deeply, different attitudes towards these animals emerged. Ted Hughes' poem 'The Bull Moses' has a farm setting and is told by a young child. Evidence for this is... " A hoist up and I could lean over the upper edge of the high half-door". The poem is about a bull who mainly lives shut up in a dark byre but occasionally is allowed down to the duck pond. It tells how although the bull appears to have some freedom, it is always shackled and controlled by the farmer and is always to return to the darkness of the cowshed. In contrast an onlooker at a farmers' market tells Thomas Hardy's poem 'Bags of Meat'. It describes a day at a meat auction. More precisely, the tale of one optimistic bull who has experienced a good life till the day arrived when his fate is to be decided by the fall of the hammer, the bull is optimistic as it does not know what is going to happen, will he be bought by the farmer, and survive, or will he be bought by the butcher, and be just a bag of meat tomorrow? The title of 'The Bull Moses' is one that can be interpreted in many ways. I think that the Bull is called Moses because it is led to the 'Promised Land' it has dreamt about but never
How Ted Hughes presents Nature as superior to Man using the poems - Work and Play - The Warm and the Cold
How Ted Hughes presents Nature as superior to Man Using the poems: Work and Play The Warm and the Cold In the poems 'Work and Play' and 'Hawk Roosting' by Ted Hughes, nature appears to be presented as superior to man. Each poem presents this in a different way. In this poem, the humans are compared to the swallow. The swallow is shown as a more intelligent being than the humans. It is shown as a beautiful, agile creature, described using words and phrases such as 'A blue-dark knot of glittering voltage', 'cartwheeling through crimson'. These phrases make the swallow seem as if it is very graceful. In contrast, the humans in the poem are depicted as disgusting creatures. '...The serpent of cars which collapsed on the beach Disgorges its organs Which roll like tomatoes Nude as tomatoes With sand in their creases...' This part of the poem creates an unattractive image of the humans, and encourages the reader to despise of them. Nature is shown as superior to man. The swallow seems much more powerful and beautiful than the humans. The humans are shown as if they are a nuisance, as the poem suggests that they pollute their surroundings: 'The serpent of cars that crawls through the dust In shimmering exhaust' Using the word 'serpent' to describe the cars makes it sound as if the cars are threatening. The humans seem almost out of place in their surroundings when
Hawk Roosting
Kate Blackwell In all the poems being studied Hughes likens the behaviour of animals to that of humans; this anthropomorphism serves not only to make these poems enjoyable to read, but help to convey exactly what the author is trying to say. 'Hawk Roosting' portrays the hawk as a powerful, arrogantly confident bird that sees the entire world as being created purely for his convenience. ' The convenience of the high trees! The air's buoyancy and the sun's ray Are of advantage to me' He believes that everything was created just for him; there is nothing or nobody else to consider because the hawk is the only one that matters. He views himself as the ruler of all he purveys; he can go where he wants and do what he wants because he owns it all - 'I kill where I please because it is all mine.' If the hawk had any idea of the notion of a God he would think of himself as the God of his world. This is reflected in the image at the end of the poem - 'The sun is behind me.' This gives a very powerful image of the hawk stood proudly on a branch with the sun shining in a halo around his head, surveying his land below him. It shows the hawk as an important god-like figure. Hughes uses other imagery in the poem to show the hawk is violent; he is well able to do all the killing he wants to. '...Between my hooked head and hooked feet' This provokes an image of the bird's
What does the Pike represent in the poem "Pike" by Ted Hughes?
What does the Pike represent in the poem "Pike" by Ted Hughes? Ans.: Ted Hughes is one of the most famous names in the contemporary world of poetry. 'Pike' is a thought-provoking poem by the 'Animal poet' Ted Hughes, an eminent modern English poet. His poems show an inventiveness, a joy in the exercise of his art, that exists side by side with a curiosity that is sometimes compassionate, sometimes simply fierce. The three inches long pike is the protagonist of this poem. Its malevolent and voracious disposition, cruelty and cannibalistic nature cover the core of the poem. Outwardly it is a charming fish of fresh water with green stripes over its golden body. As the poet points out, pike is a killer fish; it is born to kill. Even a newly born pike has an ancient, spiteful grin. Pikes ravel in dancing on the surface of water as they are very aware of the powers they hold. This understanding of their capacity to dominate over other fishes gives a continual motion and joy to their nature. Despite their frightful nature they are exquisite with their majestic grandeur in their color and movement; sometimes they are awe-struck at their own beauty. Their shapes produce on the onlookers an impression of mixed delicacy and horror. They small to our eyes they are very large in the world to which they belong. To the smaller creatures, which they kill under the water, they appear very
Compare the two poets Ted Hughes and Simon Armitage.
Compare the two poets Ted Hughes and Simon Armitage Work and Play: This poem describes to us what happens during the long summer days, concentrating, mainly on the work of a sparrow, and through the sparrow's eyes, what humans do and how they react and adjust to the hot temperatures. With this poem it is fairly easy to tell that the poet agrees with the sparrow's opinions about this topic. In this essay it is easy to tell what the poet feels about this topic as the poet describes the sparrow's work as an enjoyable and fun experience but describes the leisure time of the humans as a very painful and uncomfortable chore. An example of this is, 'She draws a long thread and she knots it at corners. But the holiday people are laid out like wounded.' This quote tells us that in the eyes of the sparrow, and possibly the poet too, humans lay, sunbathing on the beach and look in great pain. The poet has glorified the work of the sparrow and made it sound much more pleasurable. I don't think that this poem really has a message in it but if I had to say that it did, I think that the message would be about the beauty of nature and how we have the power to ruin that beauty, with car exhaust fumes and how we take over the beaches in hot weather, so that they no longer belong to nature. The quote 'inhaling petroleum' gives me this impression because the humans are choking living
Full Moon and Little Frieda, written by Ted Hughes, is about the memory of little Frieda, at two years old,
English Literature January 15th 2011 Victoria Levy “Full Moon and Little Frieda,” written by Ted Hughes, is about the memory of little Frieda, at two years old, noticing various things around her and also identifying the moon. Hughes conveys a sense of fascination throughout the poem through certain devices, metaphysical aspects and through the structure. The poem is a lyrical poem, which also adds to the fascination as lyrical poems are usually written as love poems. In the very first line, “A cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark and the clank of a bucket,” onomatopoeia is used. This line begins with a quiet mood and the sudden sound of a bark, signifying Frieda’s fascination with the dog and how quickly she noticed something new. The assonance in the third stanza, “wreaths of breath,” gives a very breathy sound when read. This could be shown as a sense of fascination on the father’s part where he is so astounded by his daughter that he is breathless. Another example of assonance refers to the fourth stanza when Frieda cries, “Moon! Moon!” The repetition of the ‘oo’ sound sounds as though she is exclaiming in fascination at the moon now that she has realized its existence. “A spider’s web, tense for the dew’s touch,” is a metaphor referring to Frieda’s fascinated mind and how it seems to trap the images around her, as well as it being
How does Hughes convey his response to the pike in the poem, "Pike"?
How does Hughes convey his response to pike in the poem? Hughes’ responses to the pike include admiration, curiosity, respect, fear and horror. He shows this through use of description, similes and metaphors. During the poem his fear of the pike increases from section to section. He describes the pike as “perfect”, “stunned by their own grandeur”, showing his respect for them. In this, the first, stanza he shows his admiration and fear of the pike with the phrase “They dance on the surface among the flies”. This metaphorical phrase shows admiration through “dance on the surface”, which shows beauty and grace of movement but it shows fear through “among the flies” as this can be taken to mean that the pike are ‘the lords of the flies’ which means devil; the word ‘tigering’ evokes a sense of beauty and fear at the same time, much like the tiger. In the first stanza he also shows his fear of them by saying that they are “killers from the egg: the malevolent aged grin”, this phrase coupled with the next line shows the pike as devilish killers, who have no choice in the fact that they kill, yet take pride in knowing that they have killed; pike are horrifying, destructive and fearful monsters. Their “malevolent aged grin” coupled with “hooked clamp and fangs/Not to be changed at this date” conjure the image of a terrifying, emotionless
