COMMENT IN DETAIL ON THE POEMS BY TED HUGHES. AS A FINAL CONCLUSION, CHOOSE TWO OTHER POEMS WHICH DEAL WITH THE SAME THEME AND DISCUSS AND COMPARE THEM WITH HUGHES' POEMS

Essay by taraward33High School, 11th grade September 2004

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The poems by Ted Hughes all have the same common theme, nature. He was born to a working class family in a small mining town in Yorkshire, and was obsessed with and became famous for describing the power and mystery of animals as well as the deep world of nature. Although these poems could be seen as a literary tradition, they could also be a vehicle for discussing other issues that are present in each poem itself.

Thought-Fox is about the appearance of a fox through the window with himself looking at it. The image portrayed is of himself sitting at his desk, looking out of the window, wondering what to write. The first stanza tells us that it is late and dark outside but "something else is present" for the moment, he is faced with a "blank page" telling the reader that he has not begun his writing. The second stanza introduces something "entering the loneliness" possibly showing that he is at a loss as to what to write but an idea is entering his thoughts.

The third stanza introduces the fox and repeats the words "now, and now, and now" makes you imagine the fox creeping ever closer, gracefully on the snow. "Brilliantly concentratedly" is the poet realising the he now has the material in order to complete the poem with the last stanza informing us that "the page is printed" - his work is now done. The rhythm of the poem starts slowly and reaches a crescendo due to his excitement with the powerful line "till with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox" references that the poet can complete his task at hand with the closing satisfactory words of "the page is printed" - my work is complete.

Thistles is, on the face of it, a...