Hughes

At first, I wasn’t sure if I liked or disliked Ted Hughes- I’m beginning to think I am leaning more towards like. There were some poems that I completely disliked. Then there were the few that I enjoyed. The crow poems were interesting and challenged me to think deeper into the text. Although other poetry made me do that, I kind of liked the subject matter more when it came to discussion about the crow and his relationship with God. We discussed some interesting theories in class and, although I am still clueless as to why he wrote the poems and what he meant by them, I still think our interpretations where pretty great. I think each of the poems involving the crow gives a different message, but I’m sure if we pieced it all together and really studied it, some sense would come out of it all.

The Birthday letters made me extremely sad. Some of the lines were kind of heartbreaking. From what we know about Sylvia Plath and looking at some of the lines in Hughes poetry I got the impression that even if Hughes stayed with her, the same end would come to Plath. She was unsteady all of her life. Even though I think Hughes could have felt more emotion toward the situation-I think it’s good enough that he at least felt something. I mean he had to be upset if he wrote so many poems on the subject. I think over Christmas break I’ll read all of Hughes poetry along with Plaths and see what I think (don’t worry, I won’t get depressed. I’ll make sure I read in a bright room and have Christmas music on).