2017 №1(54) Article 15

V.N. Ganin

The image of nature in Ted Hughesʼ “Hawk roosting”. P.132- 140.

UDC 821.111-1.09“19”

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The paper focuses on nature images in the early works of a famous British poet Ted Hughes. In his first collection of poems “The Hawk in the Rain” the poet highlights the opposition between animals, who live in harmony with nature and have access to its energy, and humans, who have long lost the connection to nature. The second book of poetry called “Lupercal” also focuses on animals and nature, however, it is no longer the harmony that attracts the poet, but the wild power of the animal world. The poem “Hawk Roosting”, which catapulted Hughes into the spotlight, was treated by some critics as the propaganda of fascist and totalitarian regimes. The paper maintains that in order to enhance his message, Ted Hughes, a Cambridge graduate (Department of Anthropology), used allusions to Egyptian and Ancient Greek mythology, as well as allusions to the Old Testament. Thus, Christian morality cannot be used to analyze the poem. However, the poet himself failed to cast away the stereotypical understanding of good and evil and unwillingly endowed his hawk with anthropomorphic features.

 Contemporary British poetry, poetic works by Ted Hughes, poetical image of nature, animal imagery in literature.

References:

 

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