Hugh's Style

As I was reading the “Crow” poems, I found myself intrigued with the way Hugh’s uses them to turn traditional stories upside down. One particular poem we brought up in class is “Crow’s First Lesson.” I believe I heard the word “sacrilegious” come up in relation to this poem, and I’m pretty sure that it does apply to this twisted, perverted version of the biblical creation. However, one particular poem which stood out to me not because it twisted an easily recognizable story, but because I could make no connection with it to another story, was “Crow’s Vanity.” As I said, I could find no story to go with this particular poem, but after a little bit of reflection I realized that it’s still very much like the rest of Hugh’s poetry.

Now, to follow my argument you’ll have to agree with me that the “story” of Hugh’s collective poetry is its structure. One might say that the “story” of Hugh’s structure includes short lines which sometimes are enjambed but often have punctuation, a lack of end rhyme, the occasional use of alliteration, and un-uniform stanza length. Understanding, then, that Hughs likes to twist stories, “Crow’s Vanity” could be an example of Hughs twisting the “story” of his own typical structure. Consider, for example, the fact that there’s no punctuation in “Crow’s Vanity,” but that Hughs relies on white space to form the pauses throughout the poem. I’ll put two stanzas side by side to show you how they look different structurally.

“Crow’s Vanity” “Oedipus Crow”
Looking close in the evil mirror Crow saw A gravestone fell on his foot
Mistings of civilisations towers gardens And took root-- Battles he wiped the glass but there came He bit through the bone and fled.

Clearly “Crow’s Vanity” looks a lot different than the more typically structured “Oedipus Crow.” Therefore, by twisting his own structure, Hughs takes the easily recognizable story of his own style and turns it upside down.