How does Hughes use lexis to convey feelings and ideas in Thistles?
In the poem ‘Thistles’ by Ted Hughes there is a prominent theme of war and suffering which are intensified by the feelings of relentless sadness, pain in a recurring battle.
In the first verse, Hughes uses adjectives to introduce the idea of a recurring battle. “The hoeing hands of men”. The verb here, acting as an adjective symbolises the turning over of Earth. A ‘hoe’ is a garden tool used to cultivate land and encourage it to grow. Hughes choice of the verb here introduces the concept of a land that is constantly being fought for, dying off and then growing. There is also a series of frictives and plosives in the first stanza which create a scope of violence in the rhythm of the stanza. “Spike, Against, Crackle etc”. Hughes’ description of the smell that thistles leave in the air has the connotations of creating pain. “Thistles spike the summer air”. The verb ‘spike’ suggests that they are intruding on the summer air rather than enhancing it. The dynamism of the verb is also quite violent and the personification of the thistles in this way imply a regiment or army of soldiers at war, which is later supported by the tone of the final stanza.
During his description of the thistles in the second and third stanzas Hughes creates a semantic field of violence and war: “weapons, blood, Viking revengeful”. As the writer is showing us that there is a correlation between the growth of the Thistles and the war in the land. “Every one manages a plume of blood” The metaphor here is comparing the growth of the thistles to the soldiers at was making kills. The noun ‘plume’ creates the image of slow wide spread pain.
The second stanza of the poem, describes the thistles as something that keeps coming back, almost like it is invincible. “Every one a revengeful burst/ Of resurrection,” this shows how we