The relationship between man and animal in ted hughes’ poems

Canadian Social Science

Vol.3 No.1 February 2007

The Relationship between Man and Animal in Ted Hughes’ Poems
RELATIONS ENTRE L’HOMME ET LES ANIMAUX DANS LES POEMES DE TED HUGHES
Li Yudi1
Abstract: This paper discusses the significance of Ted Hughes’s animal poems, and find out the relationship between human and animals. It analyses from three aspects: man expects to acquire animalpower, animals reflects man and enlightenment from animals. Through the analysis, both the content and the consideration on human in Ted Hughes’ poems could be better understood. Key words: Ted Hughes, animal poems, human and animals Résumé: Cet essai étudie la signification des poème d’animal de Ted Hughes et explore les relations entre l’homme et les animaux. L’analyse s’effectue sous trois anglesci-dessous : l’homme veut acquérir la force des animaux, les animaux reflètent l’homme ainsi que l’homme s’inspire des animaux. A travers cette analyse, la signification et la considération sur l’homme des poèmes de Ted Hughes pourraient mieux comprises. Mots-Clés: Ted Hughes, poèmes d’animal, homme et animaux 2. MAN AND ANIMAL 1. INTRODUCTION 2.1 Man expects to acquire animal power
Ted Hughes, whoobtained the fame of Poet Laureate in 1984, totally had 8 major collections that represented a great variety of forms and subjects during his life. Among them, it’s the series of animal images that established his fame of “animal poet” or “nature poet”. His special subject matters and bold style made his poems quite different from other contemporary poets. Had been living near the wide moorlandand spending a great time on fishing and hunting, he had been attracted by beauty and power of nature since his childhood. However, his feelings towards animals were more than pure appreciation. As a perspective and thoughtful poet, he not only vividly portrayed an animal world in his poems, but also revealed his philosophical thoughts. Between human beings and animals, there are several complexand profound relationships. Apparently, Hughes was inspecting animals in the wild nature, but by deeper analysis of the relationship between animals and human beings, we can find that actually he was expressing his mystical beliefs on human beings through those animals. In 1957, Ted Hughes published his first poem collection The Hawk in the Rain, by which he established his statue as a modern poetin England, and in which his fascination to animal’s beauty and power was fully expressed. In Poetry Today: A Critical Guide to British Poetry Thwaite wrote that this is a work “concentrates on physical vividness of a mimetic turbulent world of predatory animals and primitive violence.”(56) And in this world, human beings are so weak and helpless that they are in awe of the animals as well asdeeply admire them. One of his representative poem entitled “The Hawk in the Rain” opens with the description of “I” walking across a ploughed field in the rain: “I drown in the drumming ploughland, I drag up Heel after heel from the swallowing of the earth’s mouth, From clay that clutches my each step to the ankle With the habit of the dogged grave,… ” A man is stepping forward in a ploughland whilestruggling with the rain and the clay that try to swallow
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Central China Normal University, China. *Received 11 August 2006 ; accepted 26 November 2006

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him like “dogged grave”. Words like “drag up”, “clutches”, “each step” and “habit” indicate that for man, in such a cruel circumstance, it is not just a walk across a ploughland,but a lifelong journey. And soon there is another stanza makes the contrasting situation of the hawk: “…but the hawk Effortlessly at height hangs his still eye.” The hawk revolves in the high sky, coolly looking at man’s desperate struggle against the force of nature. The image of the hawk is like an ambassador of the nature, and under his masterful command, man’s struggle is doomed and...