The Jaguar And The Pike Essay, Research Paper

Topic: ?The Jaguar?, ?The

Pike? and ?Hawk Roosting? by Ted Hughes Compare

the three poems, their similarities and differences, their aim and intention. Describe

their viewpoint and their style and language. Which

one do you prefer and why???? Some of the poems? similarities are quite

subtle and you are only able to catch them if you reread the poems a couple of

times. The most obvious one is that they are all about animals. Why is this?

Maybe Ted Hughes is comparing humans to these different animals, and with these

poems is trying to show us what we are really like. Take the hawk in ?Hawk

Roosting? for instance. He considers everything an advantage for himself. He

thinks that everything is there just for him and that he is so perfect that ?it

took the whole of Creation to produce my foot?. We humans think this way. We

seem to think that evrything is there for us, and that we are the most perfect

of Creation. ?? Also in every one of these poems, Hughes

seems to be emphasising the importance of animal instinct. ?Killers from the

egg?, ?but there?s no cage to him?. He does not criticise their instinct, on

the contrary, he seems to respect it a great deal. He is trying to make us

realise that sometimes it is better to act on instinct then to think everything

through very carefully. ?? Another similarity is that he has used only

the ?hunters? in his poems, and not the victims. He does not try to hide the

animals? bad points, instead, he writes what he sees, which adds even more

reality to his poems. ?? The differences in the three poems are

numerous, so there is no point naming but a few. ??? Both ?The Jaguar? and ?The Pike? are

written in third person narrative, whilst ?Hawk Roosting? is written in first

person narrative. ??? ?The Jaguar? feels as if it was written by

a perceptive person who saw it caged up like that in the zoo. I don?t think it

contains as much intimity as do the other two. ?Hawk Roosting? I feel contains

the most of this intimity I was talking about. This is given by the fact that

it is the hawk telling us the poem, I am going to keep things this way?. It

gives an interesting viewpoint, the animal telling us about how it feels about

its surroundings. ??? ?The Pike?, feels like it has been written

by the fisherman who has had first hand experience with the pike and knows all

the facts and the myths about it, ?A pond I fished?, ?That past nightfall I

dared not cast?.??? The language in ?Hawk Roosting? seems like

the language like the language of an old lord or aristocrat. It is composed,

and seems ancient: ?Nothing has changed since I began?. It is also in control

and emphasises the hawk?s self-absorbement and its superiority. ?? In ?The Pike?, the language makes the poem

more intriguing. The way Hughes expresses himself adds to the aura of mystery

already surrounding the poem: ?so immense and old?, ?Or hung in an amber cavern

of weeds?. ?? My favourite of these three poems is

without doubt ?Hawk Roosting?. I enjoyed the way the author wrote it from the

hawk?s point of view. But most off all I liked the language of this poem.

Certain phrases just stick to memory like: ?The allotment of death?. The hawk

is not a hypocrite, he tells us exactly what he is like: ?My manners are

tearing off heads?. But

my favourite verse of the poem has to be: ?The sun is behind me. Nothing has

changed since I began?. It just gives you a feeling that this creature has been

here since eternity and has watched us evolve the way that he wanted us to. It

is quite scary actually, but it makes you think: what if there was actually

such a creature, which has watched us for a long, long time? Deciding what we

should be like? I don?t think we will ever know. ??? Maybe it is better that way??