The poem begins with a small evening that shrinks “to a dog bark the clank of a bucket” which indicates how the smallness of little Frieda contributes to the smallness of the evening. The small, cool evening also implies that the poet is referring a tiny fragment of an evening, and the bark of the dog and clank of the bucket are sounds that were a part of that particular fragment.
Hughes conveys his feelings for Frieda, in the next stanza, where he refers to her as “you”. In this verse, Hughes communicates his emotions for Frieda by creating an atmosphere of tension. He shows little Frieda’s fear as she hears “a spiders web, tense with for the dew’s touch”. He also builds up to the anxiety by implying how the pail of water which was initially “still and brimming”, began to quiver as it was lifted, causing the reflection of the moon and twinkling stars to slightly tremor.
This sense of tension is broken with further description of the moment. Hughes describes how the cows are going home in the lane “with their warm wreaths of breath” which indicates how the warm breath of the cows were condensing into the mist as they trotted along the countryside. The poet then shows how the cows walk along “a dark river of blood” underling the color and texture of the soil in the dark evening, which was red and watery, similar to blood. Hughes also refers to the cows as “balancing unspilled milk”, which shows how the cows were holding on to their milk without spilling a single drop. In the following line, the poet shows how little Frieda cry’s out in joy and delight upon the sight of the moon, against the dark sky.
In the last two lines of the poem, Ted Hughes conveys his feelings for Frieda using vibrant imagery. Until this moment, all life was centered around the snap-shot- the excitement and fear of little Frieda, her scream of glee upon gazing at the moon, the dog barking, the spider’s web, and the plodding cows. Suddenly, in the last two lines, this changes dramatically as the moon, which is usually motionless in the sky, springs up into life. Ted Hughes envelops all of this imagery into a moving painting, where the moon is personified as an artist. The snap-shot of a magical evening with little Frieda becomes a painting of the moon, at which it glances at in amazement. And in turn, little Frieda, a creation of the moon’s work of artistry, points back at moon itself, amazed at the marvel of it’s creator.
In my opinion, this poem magnificently illustrates Ted Hughes feelings for his daughter, little Frieda, and beautifully captures the snap- shot of the small evening. It brings magic and life into a glimpse of a very ordinary evening, and envelopes this scenery into a work of art created by the moon. This poem is certainly special to me, especially the part where the moon and little Frieda seem staring at each other in mutual amazement, almost paving a divine relationship between the child and the celestial body.
