Pike Ted Hughes Essay -- English Literature

Pike Ted Hughes Choose a poem you studied recently which challenges the reader to view something familiar in a new and thought provoking way. Pike Ted Hughes Stanzas one to four of the poem are there to describe the Pike, its nature, what it looks like and it’s destiny in nature as a predator. The poet, Ted Hughes, in writing this poem challenges the reader to view nature in a totally new perspective by exploring the power and violence in it by using one animal in river life, the Pike, since the Pike is the supreme species of fish in river life he uses it to full extend to show the power and violence of nature. Hughes starts the poem with â€Å"Pike, three inches long, perfect† using this as a start to describing the Pike, he begins to build up the Pike’s image as a predator, always being a predator with no change required through evolution therefore using â€Å"perfect† as another way of saying that the pike was designed perfectly as a predator and will never need to change as it will always remain supreme in its habitat. â€Å"Pike in all parts, green tigering the gold† the use of the word â€Å"tigering† giving a comparison of the Pike to the Tiger, completely different creatures but in their own worlds they are just as deadly as each other, the Tiger being supreme in the jungle just as the Pike is supreme in the river. â€Å"Killers from the egg† using this Hughes re-enforces his point of the Pike being born to killer, always meant to be a predator. â€Å"The malevolent aged grin† the poet strongly uses â€Å"malevolent† to catch the reader and fully describe the evil that the Pike is designed for, even since the moment of birth the Pike’s features have already been aged with the evil, menacing look, to show its potential fo... ...move, the still splashes on he dark pond†. Assuming that the poet was on a small boat â€Å"owls hushing the floating woods† he hears the owls in the woods that seems to float as he sits on this boat, â€Å"frail on my ear against the dream† just managing to hear the owls as the only noise - almost as if the owls â€Å"hushing† the rest of the woods to be silent, adding more fear to this trip – just keeping him aware of this world that seems so much like a dream. â€Å"Darkness beneath night’s darkness had freed† this meaning the darkness of the water beneath the night’s darkness and also the darkness of the Pike, as darkness is associated with evil, now moving â€Å"freed† under him, â€Å"that rose slowly towards me, watching.† The pike, the evil slowly rising towards him watching his every move, he makes it as if the pike seeing him as prey, slowly approaching him, ready to strike.