Pike by Ted Hughes: Structure Analysis

Ted Hughes in his poem 'Pike' strikingly depicts the violence of human world by simply projecting the natural world of pike. The overall structure of the poem is simple, but with that simplicity he powerfully shows the complex relation of natural and human world.


Ted Hughes (1930-1998)

The language and lexicon items used in the poem are simple with few polysyllabic words and his phrases are stark. Pike is a visual poem in which pike is perceptible by touch. The readers can see the water, see the weeds and sense the dangerous presence of pike. The description from the beginning to the end is rhythmic and soothing the reader.

The poet juxtaposes the world of human being and the natural world. The juxtaposition is done between the image of the pike floating patiently in its natural world and an artificial world that imprisons the creatures for a cruel purpose of human that have been captured by human hands.

Hughes frequently draws the attention of the reader to the mouth of pike: a grin, open and waiting in the weeds, smiling with a full stomach. By focusing on this expression of Pike- he intensifies the level of uneasiness that people have to feel when they have to witness hunger and the power of natural impulse. The lurking, shadowed image of pike is jarring.

At the end of the poem, the fisherman is shown as the real source of violence in the natural world. It is the fisherman who in the poem feels fears not the Pike. In this way, Hughes with the help of nature and its element shows the bitter and dangerous truth of the human world.

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Sharma, Kedar N. "Pike by Ted Hughes: Structure Analysis" BachelorandMaster, 13 Oct. 2014, bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/pike-structure-analysis.html.