Thistles Ted Hughes 32i26

Thistles Ted Hughes In the poem ‘Thistles’, Ted Hughes describes the life cycle of the thistles, and how difficult it is to get rid of them. Ted Hughes argues that the world will never live in peace that wars will always emerge through memories in the way that thistles spring back through seeds. Hughes uses well-fitted, negative diction; expressive similes, metaphors, and other language techniques; and sound devices, syntax, and rhythm to express his view. The title straight away introduces the element of nature giving you the essence of the poem. Although the title is short, its effectiveness is heightened as it encourages the reader’s imagination. Ted Hughes portrays effectively his opinion on ‘Thistles’ as he is very negative throughout using powerful adjectives such as ‘blue’ and ‘black’ which give the poem a more sombre feel. The final lines of the poem leave the reader with a profound thought. The increased punctuation at the end slows down the poem to increase the effect of the profound thought. This poem is very rich with metaphorical language as the ‘Thistles’ symbolise negative feelings and Hughes explores how these feelings never go away. Also, the alliteration implies the imagery of a bruise, caused by a physical . Then it is seen that the thistles pollinate and reproduce: "Every one a revengeful burst". This conveys that there is a motive, a reason, for the reproduction; other than simply to maintain its species. The motive is to fight a battle, a continuous war. Hughes has given the thistles human features and emotions, such as the ability to take revenge. Also through personification, Hughes expresses his speculation of how, the ‘Thistles’ have their own purpose in life. It seems that history repeats itself, because of nature. Human beings are also a part of nature itself, this is conveyed through the subtle comparison between human and thistles. "Of resurrection, a grasped fistful / of splintered weapons and Icelandic frost thrust up." Here we encounter the thistles ready and armed for a battle. This battle is for the land, the

field of reproduction. These parallels with the lives of modern human beings highlight the metaphorical meaning behind. The hard letters in words like ‘spike’ further imply the forceful language used to portray is strong views. The run-on lines also symbolise the cycle of nature. Overall, this poem has many metaphorical meanings behind it which are shown by the different language features used by Ted Hughes.