The Menacing Nature of Wind Dakotah Gerlach 10th Grade

Throughout the poem “Wind”, by Ted Hughes, there are two significant symbols. In the poem, the house (and its surroundings) is one of the main subjects and symbolizes a relationship between the writer and another person. The second symbol in the poem is the “menacing wind” which appears to represent the other person in the relationship. This is done in a way that portrays the wind as an abuser and the house as the victim; the poem “Wind” as a whole appears to symbolize Hughes’ desire to leave a decaying relationship but the other partner not wanting him to leave.

Hughes opens up the first stanza with the phrase “this house has been far out at sea all night,” illustrating a house, similar to a boat, stranded in the middle of a dark sea. This phrase has a rather negative connotation, suggesting distance within the relationship of Hughes and the other individual thus setting the tone of the stanza, and the rest of the poem, as rather dark, depressing, and inevitably dooming. The wind is described “stampeding the fields” perhaps in attempt to barricade Hughes within the house – he cannot leave if the weather is hazardous. This is one of Hughes first descriptions of the menacing wind and this particular descriptor informs the...