he poets Ted Hughes and Dylan Thomas Essay Example

takes away the pikes 'evil' and predator tendencies replacing them with a far more likeable pike, which has the innocence of a child that can do no harm. Hughes describes the pikes as being grandiose and being 'stunned' by this.

Once again Hughes uses personification to enforce how perfectly made these organisms are by giving the pikes the ability to be stunned by their own magnificence. This perfection and 'grandeur' is destroyed once again, through Hughes describing what goes on underneath the fairy tail pike on the surface. The significance of Hughes doing this is to bring the pikes and nature into the world that we as people live in and understand. Hughes makes organisms such as the pike a person in their own right, that we can understand or feel disgusted with for the way they prey on others.

It would be fair to say that Hughes draws parallels with humans and the world of nature; the pike is merciless as are a lot of people. Indeed the dancing pike on the surface can be compared to a person who is pleasant and seems like they can be trusted. However as with the 'horror' that goes on underneath the dancing pike, Hughes could be saying who knows what kind of horror goes on underneath a person's front. 'He was Wordsworth soaked in blood and cruelty, bleak and euphoric. He changed the face of English literature'. Hughes in the previous quote was compared to the poet 'William Wordsworth'.

It could be said that in many respects Hughes's poetry follows a similar theme to Worsdworth's poetry. I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and

hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze Hughes like Wordsworth explores the beauty of the natural world, the 'host of golden daffodils' is similar to Hughes's 'green tigering the gold'. Both poets have found something beautiful in what they are writing about. However Hughes after writing about the beauty, prefers to contrast it with the darker side of the natural world.

The horror of the pikes cannibalism when placed in a group of three pikes 'behind glass' can relate to the way in which we as humans often prey on one another. And indeed they spare nobody Hughes looks at the beauty of the natural world rather like Wordsworth but also explores the darker side of nature at the same time. Hughes treats the natural world as a reflection of our 'evolved society'. Even though we as people may not eat one another we may metaphorically do so. Often there will be a battle for leader displaying how we as an evolved species still have the natural instincts and 'horror' of the pike.

Dylan Thomas like Ted Hughes explores the relationship between nature and humans. In 'The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives The Flower' Thomas considers how ironically nature gives life then takes it away, the force that creates Thomas is also his 'destroyer'. With growth all living things come closer to death. Thomas constantly repeats 'I am dumb' throughout the poem, in saying this he could mean that he is dumb to the force of nature and that he has no control over natures affect

on him. Therefore nature is the controller not the man; nature is the stronger 'force'.

I am dumb to tell the crooked rose My youth is bent by the same wintry fever. Nature creates the rose in spring and then nature produces winter and kills the rose. The human life could be compared to the seasons, spring being our youth and winter being our old age. Thomas's winter fever is his youth disappearing and getting closer to his old age, his winter. The force that drives the water through the rocks Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams Turns mine to wax. The above quote highlights again how the same 'force' drives Thomas that drives nature.

Reminding the audience that they are part of nature and this force that can give life can then take it away. Thomas explains this through his use of imagery, to say his blood turns to wax can make an audience actually picture their blood clogging up leading to death. Thomas finishes off the poem by talking of 'the lovers tomb', which is perhaps a reference to the womb, suggesting that through all this death comes the possibility for new life. This is a contrast to rest of the poem as it offers hope to the reader that as we grow older new life is born as with the seasons in the natural world.

However it could be bleak because this new life will also grow old and die just like Thomas, however possibly produce new life of its own continuing a never ending process. Like Hughes Thomas compares people to the natural world and reminds the reader that we are

all mortal and death will come to us just as it does to 'the crooked rose'. Hughes's poem tractor displays to an audience how man can not tame nature. The tractor stands frozen - an agony To think of it. The tractor is frozen in a field and unable to move. Nature has brought winter and frozen the man made appliance rendering it useless.

The tractor is a farming tool; if a farmer farms the land he is in affect trying to tame the land to grow what he wants it to grow. However he must rely on nature to supply the right natural conditions needed to grow his attempted tamed field. Therefore man cannot tame nature he must live by the conditions that nature hands him. Hughes writes as though he is fighting with nature to bring the tractor back to life. It defies flesh and won't start. ands are like wounds already Inside armour gloves, and feet are unbelievable As if the toe nails were all just torn off. As Hughes struggles with the tractor Thomas's 'force' fights back at him.

Even while wearing gloves the winter cold try's to stop Hughes from starting the tractor. Hughes's Yorkshire dialect shows through when he says how his 'ands are like wounds', this is the only time Hughes uses his dialect in the poem. The word 'ands' almost brings Hughes character to life, maybe making him more believable as a real person or a farmer. Ironically Hughes is the one getting hurt while trying to start a tractor that has no feelings or emotion, yet it is the tractor that the audience are made to feel pity

for. Hughes makes the tractor believable as a living organism due to his use of personification.

I squirt commercial sure-fire Down the black throat - it just coughs This introduction of 'sure-fire' could represent a person with a cold talking cough medicine. The feebleness of the tractor against the elements of winter reflects a human beings weakness against nature. And the tractor, streaming with sweat, Raging and trembling and rejoicing. This final short paragraph displays best the tractor as a person with an illness. The 'streaming with sweat' is associated with someone who has the flu. Flu would be brought on by nature, however the final line suggests the weak human fighting back against nature.

The 'rejoicing' is a celebration against beating nature this time, however the audience knows that the tractor will probably freeze up again the next night just like a human being will probably catch flu again next winter. The tractor or a person can beat nature on a small scale, however man will never completely conquer nature. For Dylan Thomas and Ted Hughes the natural world was a main focus in their poetry. 'He roamed his countryside, hunted and fished and put words about nature together'. The previous quote on Hughes would seem to sum up Hughes background in the natural world on which he wrote his poetry.

Hughes wrote his poetry how he saw it in his actual life, through hunting and spending time in the country, he would have seen the beauty and horror of nature as he later recited in his poetry. Thomas and Hughes highlighted how powerful nature is and how we as humans don't always remember that we are

all only mortal and like any animal or plant that we see as being inferior to ourselves, we to will eventually die. Thomas and Hughes both treat the natural world as important and remind us how significant it is to our own lives and how we are part of it.