Thistles By Ted Hughes

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Thistles by Ted Hughes 'Thistles’ by Ted Hughes is a poem about nature and its everyday struggle for survival. Ted Hughes often writes about nature as a very powerful and dominant force. Is 'Thistles' a poem which we feel reflects this attitude towards the world of nature? I think this poem does reflect his attitude but i believe that man and nature are similar in both their strengths and weaknesses. I will discuss why i think this in this essay. The poem is about thistles in a field and having an everyday struggle for survival against man who try to pull them out of the ground and get rid of them. But they keep coming back and fighting for the land that we have taken from them. Like a never ending army. There are many hidden messages in the poem which suggest that mam and nature are similar in their strengths "Their sons appear stiff with weapons, fighting back over the same ground." This quote suggests that nature and man are having similar battles for land. Nature is fighting to survive on that certain piece of land that man are trying to take control of but they can’t because there are new thistles appearing after the scattering of seeds. Man does the same, new generations follow in family members’ footsteps and join the army to fight for their country just like thistles fighting for their land. It also suggests that the thistles are like soldiers - "... stiff with weapons" - preparing for battle holding their weapons in an upright position. Man is fighting over land to extend the length of their country or because another country have done something wrong that other countries don't agree with. The writer uses onomatopoeia, Alliteration and word choice to keep the reader interested. "Thistles spike the Summer air" this suggests that the thistles are putting the Summer air under attack as "spike" suggests that it is something dangerous and
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