Many of Ted Hughes' poems are symbolic or realistic in nature. Their content varies though, covering topics from nature to religion.
GradeSaver has ClassicNotes for the following poems. Click through the links to read the full guide.
God's Grandeur
The speaker reveals that the earth and the people on it are transformed by God's grandeur, which will consume the world as a flame and it will culminate in greatness. It is question why men do not respond to His grandeur, and then the life of man plodding along and trading, whilst all the while blurring God's grandeur through their actions is portrayed. God's grandeur is emphasised through nature untainted by man and the morning in the east. Then the Holy Ghost is mentioned as bending over the earth, protecting it and watching over it.
Full Moon and Little Frieda
This poem is set in the evening, which is described through the sound of a dog and a bucket being hit. The subject listens. A spider's web and a pail are described, the latter reflecting a star in the rippling water. The reader sees cows in the road, breathing warmly on the hedge-rows, whilst a river of blood and boulders are depicted, 'balancing unspilled milk.' The 'you,' of this poem, presumably 'Little Frieda,' cries out at the moon and the moon looks at her with awe, as she points at it.
The Minotaur
A table is described that has been an heirloom in the family, however it has been smashed by the subject of this poem, most likely a man. It is a symbol of hurt in the speaker's life, which has been bruised by a hammer. A stool has been swung by the subject as the speaker was late by twenty minutes to baby-sit the children. The speaker shouts at the subject, prompting him to abuse the table and smash it up, and says this is what is missing from his poems. When she is calmer, she repeats this idea, telling him to put the energy into the stanzas of his poems, and that they will leave, A goblin in the subject's ear snaps its fingers and the speaker questions what she has provided him with. A bloody item is presented and is said to have 'unravelled,' the marriage of the speaker, and left his children empty with echoes as if labyrinth tunnels. The subject's mother is absent and at a loss, whilst the subject himself stands by his father's grave, although his father is 'risen,' and he finds his own dead body in it.
Thrushes
The thrush is described as a 'terrifying,' bird that is almost robotic and has fierce eyes. It is ready to take its prey, and rhythmically drags an innocent worm from the ground. It does not procrastinate nor is it taken over by tiredness or boredom. It simply and efficiently does what it needs to. The speaker then questions why the thrush is so efficient, whether their skulls, brains, training, or motivation to feed their loud, hungry and demanding young gives them the efficient purpose. Their work is compared to Mozart's ability and that of a shrk, that smells blood, even its own, and then devours itself. There is no doubt or obstruction. The thrush simply does what it does.
The poem then says it is different with mankind, because heroes, everyday office pencil-pushers and intricate craftsmen have all worked and shown that the 'act worships itself.' Even though the man prays, there is a distraction that is noisy and obvious, of demons drowning out concentration and silence.
The speaker declares that all glory should go to God, for 'dappled things.' Then a list of these natural things, including the sky, trout and bird's wings are described. Then the landscape is described, being 'dappled,' itself, yet also farmed by humans, as the poem then mentions the equipment used to do this and then equipment used in trade.
More abstract aspects of life are then described, showing how things that are complete opposites are also for God's glory. It questions, 'Who knows how?' as a rhetorical question in parenthesis. It then says 'He [God] fathers-forth whose beauty is past change,' and calls for all, including the reader to praise this God and His grandeur.
The Child is Father To The Man
This title line is stated, then questioned, with an answer that it is a crazy statement and no sense can be taken from it. It is repeated again, and apparently corrected, as a poet has written the opposite: 'The man is father to the child.' Then the title is repeated again as an exclamation and questioned again as the first time, re-emphasising how crazy of a statement it is.
Lovesong
Two lovers are described. They love each other, but their actions seem to have consequences and they take something from and of one another. When he kisses her, there is an effort to remove the past and present, which drives his desire. She bites him, trying to put him inside of her, to ensure he is safe and hers forever. The noises of the two are engrained in the curtains.
The female love desires nothing to escape, her gaze holds him down forcefully. He holds her tightly to keep her in the moment and stop life outside it from ruining it. He wishes for no future time, but to all into an everlasting moment like this with her or something like that.
She embraces him in order to imprint a part of him on herself, and his smile is a creates a fantasy for her, where the outside world of reality can not enter. Her smile paralyses him with poison so that she can prey on him when she desires, whilst his words occupy her mind. Her laughing tried to kill him, and his stare was revengeful. He whispered to her which stung and when he glanced either way, the ghosts of his past and history were revealed. She kissed him like a prosecution, he caressed her as if to reel her in. She tricked him with love to keep him locked up as her own and both their cries echoed over the floorboards, as if some strong animal 'dragging a great trap.' When he made promises, they were to protect himself and keep her silent, whilst her promises went over his head. She would make trophies of him, whilst he made vows that pulled her insides, and he taught her the ways of the 'love-knot. Her vows on the other hand remove his sight and keeps his own caution and perspective hidden away and suppressed.
They fall asleep, but love is difficult to restrain. As they are asleep together, they switch and share their body parts and they take and hold each other's brains as 'hostage.' When morning comes, they are each seen to be wearing the other's face.
To Paint A Water Lily
The different aspects of a lily are described, in order for it to be painted, almost like an instructional poem. First the leaves and their place in the ecosystem of the pond, then it is said to study and examine the two sides of the lily. A dragonfly is described as carnivorous. A scene of battle and violence emerges within nature, but we can't hear it and simply praise the beauty of the nature despite its realities. Development of natural and human history is mentioned, and it is suggested the flower is then painted, which is peaceful within both aspects of the world, almost as if a painting in the world, unmoved by any trouble, even the dragonfly war.
