Ted Hughes Poetry

03/30/2016

CADENZA
Cadenza ,in a literal sense is a difficult part of a piece of classical
music that is performed by only one person near the end of the piece:
judging by the title the reader can establish, that this piece of poetry, which
is another form of art such as music is going to be an abstract read, while
the poem has a lyrical vibe towards it. But changes to a very violent
confusing tone at the very end, this is what makes this piece so tactile rather
than understandable: as the violinist performance.
The structure like many of Hughes poems is also linked with
the basic theme of the poem, the poem follows two line stanzas except the
first line, which has been purposely made a short, one line sentence
dedicated wholly to the artist and to give a sense of hurry. Hughes is trying
to reconcile the differences between the artist and the musician ;both are
creators. According to the artist Keith Haring: an artist truly creates
something to experience its creation. The rest of the poem is a series of
stanzas paired by two sentences, both long and short , similar to the high
and low notes in music.
The creator wants to lets go of his darkness, symbolized to
shadow ,to break free from the desires and negativity. The Husk is
suppose to be the protective covering of the grasshopper, one of the reasons
Hughes chose the grasshopper is to connect it to the next word, suck. Grass
hoper, as an insect is symbolized to astrophysics, leaping in time or leaving
the body an soul to travel while sucking is an activity which creates a partial
vacuum in mouth that can also represent time-still. The idea of the
grasshopper destroying the cyclone and then rises, which in a literal sense
it also does it to convey to us that destruction is not really an end but it can
be a positive change as the word rises is positive.
The next stanza is filled with heavy words such as full, loaded
e.t.c , one reason for this is that this stanza talks about poetry being a large
burden, on poetry being the estuary: the gateway to something larger that
is dead. Creating poetry can be a huge burden to poets in the view of
Hughes. The beginning of this stanza begins with a heavy word ,The full,
bared throat of a woman walking water, during the origins of poetry began
orally hence explains the bare throat: poetry being full and changeable;
this supernatural sentence of women walking on water could represent the
creation of poetry as being changeable, through water being an element of
change. The free flowing path to the dead has been trapped through the
word loaded like a tree stuck in the middle of free flowing river,
representing something trapping the dead. This statement is ambiguous.

The use of I is a clear indication of symbolism to the cargo,

which is heavy and always proceeding as if Hughes is trying to convey that
he is the transporter carrying the coffin , attended by swallows. Swallows
are birds which represent freedom again emphasizing on the idea that death
is not the end but just a change.
The transition of the persona is significant because previously the
poet claimed to be the cargo reflecting transporter of death but now is
perceiving himself as the water, which is also a mean of transportation,
interconnected to the line of the previously stanza, where the women was
walking on water: portraying the burden that woman has been on the poet
as often walking on someone is seen as an insult. That woman can be
Hughes wife, Silvia plait the coffin will not be silent ,meaning even though
his wife is dead, her poetry will live on because poetry is art and art cannot
die.
The clouds are full of surgery.., the poet has not represented
surgery in a medical sense but in a sense that the clouds are changing their
shape to create a new world for the death. Hughe very skillfully changed the
visual idea as if conveying to the readers, just as the tone of the music the
tone of the play has been changed, and to emphasize on the change the
poet starts the next sentence with a But. The next sentence is talking
about the coffin escaping a black diamond: something rare and different, the
poet telling the readers that the world has lost something unique. The next
stanza also mentions another stone of ruby brimming blood : ruby
symbolically signifies protection of blood, which runs in the living, as if to
convey that there is a ruby in every living being whereas there is a black
diamond in the dead. Rage, anger and fury is expressed when the stone
emerald similar to the color of the sea is beating its shores , in fury a tidal
wave is formed and the swallows wing and fling ,along with the rhythm of
musical flow with the nest run-on sentence being A summer giving us a
sense that the music is producing a pleasant feeling because summers are
usually associated with vacations and holidays with the lake open, as if
inviting everyone.
The whole tone of the poem has been shifted, previously one
sucked a cyclone but now its sipping its reflection, the intensity of
destruction has decreased and creation is destroying creation by clearing
creative thoughts Till the whole sky dive shut, The mind goes blank and
cleared and suddenly according to the persona, there is a new beginning
back to its spark again emphasizing on the idea that not all that is
destruction can be a change. This change can be addressing to God or the
life after.

Hughe picks his animals with a lot of thoughtfulness and in this

poem Hughe has picked a bat, which is a deaf animal representing the soul
as it has a ghost in its mouth suggesting to the readers that the death can
neither hear not speak as it is deaf and dumb, death is as abrupt as
lightnings of silence
The last stanza screams destruction, leaving the readers
bewildered.
The sad violinist crashes into the orchestra, which explodes , this can
be seen as a way of relieving the poets tension with the burden of creating
art which he discussed in the previous stanzas
SNOWDROP
Snowdrop is a tiny flower imitating the small poem. One reason why
the poet chose this particular flower is because of its color resembling the
snow, winter being an oppressive season is linked up to the first line globe
shrunk tight suggesting the flower buds birth and its petals blooming
metaphorically described as ice age heaving its way through.
During the Winter season animals hibernate, which is a near to
death state and using minimum energy such as mouse dulled wintering
heart, the use of the word wintering could also suggest hope of winter
ending and the heart to start beating healthily. The animals that dont
hibernate are considered to be tough as surviving the winters is as tough as
moulded in brass and enter into more difficult times of outer darkness. In
winters, food is scarce especially for animals which often makes them
behave as if not in their right mind.
The last three lines changes from the experience of the animals to the
flower, one reason why all their experiences are in one stanza is because the
poet wants to explain the brutalness of winter, its affect on all as the
snowdrop pursues her end, moving towards her end. The flower has been
compared to stars, who look immortal but go through a whole process of
birth and death just as the flower, described as brutal because the wish to
pursue her ends. When a flower dies its petals turn grey described by the
imagery of its pale head heavy as a metal, its heavy because it falls down
to the ground just as every living thing. Another example how the basic
activities of life are all similar to living beings.
Thrushes

Ted Hughes opts for a very different point of view than deemed
typical, when thinking of thrushes: one thinks of tiny of them as harmless
birds, but this poem starts of with Terrifying, immediately establishing a
negative view of these birds, attent sleek thrushes , the amount of
adjectives used in the first line convey to us the poets point of view of these
creatures: these birds are sharp focused and attentive, not to be confused
by their size, their brutal attack is as an effective coiled steel , just as the
perfect bounce of a coil, a thrush attacks it prey with the same skills and
perfection.
However the poet at first is comparing the bird to an artificial mechanical
machinery suggesting its cold heart; Hes also acknowledging the fact that
its poised , the elegance and grace the bird posses clearly the authors
tone is ambivalent. During the second and third line, first half of the line is
dedicated to seeing the bird as a predator dark deadly eye , while the
second half is commenting on its beauty with words such as delicate.
Another action word Triggered is used by the poet, in order to
compare the birds action as fast as the bullet of a gun, according to the poet
these actions are so technical that it is beyond human sense, we humans
havent progressed far enough to understand a predators thoughts when
attacking ,the poet describing the action a start, a bounce, a stab,
producing the assonance of a this lightning fast action has left the readers
in a state of shock producing the aaah sound, when someone gets amazed.
The birds have overtaken in an instant without the porcastination or the
yawning stares , the poet has regarded the poet in a high standard while
the humans waste time by head-scratchings , as seen in other Hughes
poems the only time valuable will be to survive, meaning survival of the
fittest.
These animals are ravening hungry every single second , so for
them time is balanced, while for the humans time is slipping away in these
unnecessary tasks that we do, this has both its advantages and
disadvantages
The poet wonders what makes these creatures act like perfectionist
and asks the readers is it their single mind-sized skull.., telling the readers
that one such reason for their blunt actions may be due to their tiny brain
limiting their thinking skills. The poet goes further on to guess the reasons
behind their actions. The Allusion of Mozarts brain, who at a young age
started playing the piano perhaps the poet wanted to compare the small
genius Mozarts brain to the small brain to the thrushes. The metaphor
sharks mouth emphasize on the brutal hunger side of the thrushes, that it
is addicted to blood even the leak of its own. Its not about emotions in
these birds, its all about hunger.