How does Ted Huges Present Nature in His Poetry? Ted Huges presents nature by using different descriptions, techniques, vocabulary and the way he structures his poems. In the three poems ‘The Thought Fox’, ‘The Jaguar’ and ‘Hawk Roosting’ Huges presents his view on nature using animals. However he does portray the animals quite differently one a self-cantered and vicious creature, another, elegant and innocent and the last a trapped creature with no boundaries. Huges give animals’ human like features and because he is using hem to present his view on nature he is using humans as well.
Huges often uses animals to present nature to show the high and low of our environment, and how it is alone, and by humans causing global warming we are making it even more alone. Huges tells it how it is with no cover up, simple and true. For instance in ‘The Thought Fox’ Huges tells his audience what the fox is doing, how the fox is an elegant creature. He portrays the fox quite different to your common stereo-type fox which are often thought of of being sly, cruel creatures.
Although it seems the poem is about this fox it is actually about a poet looking for an idea and he sees out of the window the fox and decides to write about the fox. This technique is called an extended metaphor which Huges uses a lot, other techniques that Huges uses in the ‘Thought Fox’ consist of enjambment (one line or stanza running on to the next ‘…And again now, and now, and now/Sets neat prints into the snow’. The mood is calm and quiet, there are no jumpy parts which makes it seem like the fox is calm and quiet.
You can sense that it is just the two of them, the poet and the fox, which gives a sense that they are both alone in the world everyone else is sleeping which is how I think Huges presents nature-alone. In the Jaguar, through Huges using the techniques of extended metaphors, imagery such as personification and enjambment Huges tells us how the jaguar is feeling. The general atmosphere at this zoo is that all the animals are exhausted ‘The apes yawn and adore the fleas in the sun’. The jaguar does not fit in with this setting as in stanzas three and four the jaguar is described as being restless and wild, not like a normal zoo animal.
By being lively he attracts everyone visiting the zoo. Huges uses many different types of vocabulary in ‘The Jaguar’ during the first two stanzas the vocabulary is almost dull but when it gets to the stanzas about the jaguar the words become more exciting and have more a feel to them ‘On a short fierce fuse. ’ By doing this you fee the jaguar is more alive than the rest of the animals which is partly what the poem is about. The last two stanzas describe how the jaguar is feeling rather than what he is doing this suggests the use of an extended metaphor.
Again you feel like the jaguar is alone, and all he wants to do is go back to being free, which could suggest nature is trapped by human influence, by humans restricting nature it is almost trapped and alone. Huges used other techniques when it comes to ‘Hark Roosting’ although he still uses enjambment and similes and metaphors he doesn’t uses extended metaphors, instead he tells us about the Hawk from 3rd person point of view. The hawk believes that the whole world was created for him, evolution made him who he is so he can kill and live. The high trees are high so he can see everything he needs ‘The convenience of the high trees! , ‘The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray/ Are of an advantage to me;’ The hawk purpose is to kill and Huges shows this clearly throughout the poem ‘My manners are tearing off heads-‘ the language that Huges has used in the poem help remind you how the hawk thinks and does. There are no happy words in this poem it just tells you, it isn’t something else it is what it is, much like the hawk, the structure like the others are short but connected by enjambment, by there being no rhyme or regular rhythm also adds to the simplicity of this poem.
The hawk is also alone he doesn’t need anyone else though he only relies on himself and nature which could symbolize the earth itself, it also is alone while we ruin all it has really is itself and nature to keep it going. In conclusion Ted Huges presents nature as being alone, through the use of different techniques and content Hughes demonstrates this idea. He also uses animals to show his views on nature, which adds to the feel of his poems. In each poem the animals are always alone by them self, being who they are, which I think is how Huges thinks nature is, and that we are stopping it from being what it truly is.
