Favourite Poem - Ted Hughes ''Last Letter''

‘’Last Letter’’ by Ted Hughes is one of my favourite poems because it is evidently different from all of the other poems we have studied for our ‘Love Through the Ages’ theme. ‘’Last Letter’’ is more about the reality of love without the fancy comparisons, the difficulties you can face with the one you love. Most of the poems we have studied or analysed in class have usually been about being with the one you love or about the future with them or love ‘beyond the tomb’. The difference between Hughes’s ‘’Last Letter’’ and poems by John Donne, Aphra Behn, Dryden or others in comparison is that Hughes is perhaps the most realistic in the sense that he does not present love or life as easy or even pretty. ‘’Last Letter’’ is about losing someone you have loved, the truth about what it feels like to go through the pain of sudden death or separation.

Throughout the whole poem Hughes keeps questioning himself as if to come to some sort of conclusion about what had happened the night she died, had she ‘plotted it all’, had he ‘bungled’ her ‘plan’. It is possible to read the poem and recognize his emotions as if they were your own, his ‘love-life’- ‘numbed love-life’, ‘with its two mad needles’. Hughes might’ve tried to find the answers in his sleep, his ‘escape’, ‘sleepless, hopeless’.  

From ‘’Last Letter’’ we know that there are a mixture of emotions present, he had told the Observer after her death "I felt as if I'd been punched in the stomach."

The poem doesn’t seem finished to me as it may not to others also. I don’t believe that it is finished because of the complete confusion and jumbled emotions; there is no clear conclusion on how he feels about the event, there are no clear cut answers to his constant questions. On the other hand, perhaps the poem is finished, because this confusion and guilt may not have an ending, Hughes may not find a conclusion or answers to his questions and maybe this will remain the way it is. He might forever be questioning and feeling those same emotions that he had felt from those ‘four words’, ‘coolly delivered’- ‘your wife is dead’.

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TED HUGHES - LAST LETTER Hughes’s reveals the deep dark secrets of his wife’s tragic death describing his movements and thoughts in the three days leading up to the suicide of his first wife, Sylvia Plath. There is a strong sense of emotional power featured in the poetry, as though Hughes feels responsible for his wife’s death. The real emotion lies in the tone of Hughes language, the devastation revealed in each stanza. We experience Hughes pain as audience.
 
Through the strong imagery he uses, claiming that Plath’s death came as an ‘electric shock’ to him.It describes the days leading up to Plath’s suicide, when the pair were living apart, and the night itself, He wrote: ‘What happened that night, your final night? Double, treble exposure over everything.’Late afternoon Friday, my last sight of you alive, burning your letter to me in the ashtray with that strange smile.’ What did you say over the smoking shards of that letter so carefully annihilated, so calmly, that let me release you and leave you to blow its ashes off your plan.’ stating that on receiving the call that his wife was dead it was as though a ‘weapon’ had jabbed him or an ‘Injection’ had pierced him, which shows the absolute pain Hughes was going through. His perception of love is different as it mentions the love that is broken by death a tragic loss, the love that disappears with time. It’s as though after 7 years of faithful marriage to his wife Hughes finally resulted to having an affair. Perhaps this is due to the fact that he couldn’t live with his wife’s illness, her severe depression. Her Hughes guilt comes from the fact that his wife’s death happened due to him, not being loyal, ignoring her trips to the ‘phone booth’ to helplessly speak to him, utter her final words. Plath’s death comes as a mystery, as we are unsure of what could have happened if Hughes did answer his wife’s plea for help.

BY THE LEELEE SPICE YO

Yeehaa another interpretation of the famous Ted Hughes and his poem, 'The Tender Place'

The Tender Place is one of my favourite poems of not only Hughes’ himself but it is one of the poems that I have most enjoyed studying. Why you ask? Well here is around 500 words to tell you!

Firstly, this is a poem of the current time, we are in the ‘post-modern era’  which in literary texts relies heavily on sophisticated techniques such as fragmentation, paradox and questioning .  This instantly makes the texts  from this literary era more interesting and enjoyable to read. For example, Ted Hughes’ structure of his poems tend to be fragmented and full of enjambment. Post modern literature is argued to be a reaction against the Enlightenment period and Modernists approaches to literature.

Ted Hughes himself was born in Yorkshire in 1930 and had a rural childhood. He was also in the RAF for a couple of years and studied for a degree from Cambridge in Anthropology. He also published many books and bits of writing in magazines/newspapers etc and became a university lecturer so he did a fair amount of things in his time. However most of his poetry is focused on Sylvia Path,  his wife who was suffering from severe depression. In one of his poems it is suggested that he cheated on her, and left her for another woman after feeling the pressures of living with somebody who was mentally ill. Sylvia Path then committed suicide in around 1962. Hughes is blamed for her death in the public’s eye. His second lady, Assia Gutmann Wevill also killed herself and their child Shura four years later...Man these eccentric literature characters sure don’t seem to have a good effect on vulnerable women!

Now, enough about that, let’s talk about his wonderful work, The Tender Place. Usually we would associate that phrase with intimate areas such as a ladies’ private parts for instance...ahem...awkward...However, this is the beauty of it. Hughes refers to her mind as being ‘tender’ which firstly demonstrates the fragility of her state of mind and body. It also accentuates the internal pain in which she feels as if something is tender it usually hurts to touch. And this could also resemble her personality, as Hughes may feel as though those who touch and become close to her get hurt due to her condition. It demonstrates the care and understanding which he feels for her and the level of intimacy there is for him to be revealed to her deepest, darkest and most sacred place which is beyond sexuality, thus more a connection of two souls.

Using post-modern literary techniques Hughes’ contrasts the delicacy of Sylvia with the contrast of the strong and harsh ECT treatment she is receiving in hope to fix her depression. Hughes uses words such as ‘thunderbolts’ to demonstrate the power of electricity and the painful effects it is having upon her. He repeatedly uses the natural occurrence of lightning and storms to paradoxically highlight the un-natural treatment in which she is receiving. A sense of guilt is also portrayed through the poem, as we know Hughes has been subject to blame for Path's death and the use of 'Somebody' 'they' pressing the lever to cause the seizures to happen show how Hughes does all that he can to distance himself from the person causing her pain. His attitude towards the treatment is also shown through this as they are name and genderless suggesting that they are inhumane and animalistic for their actions.Hughes could believe that the extensive and damaging treatment of ECT is not being effective as again she does not feel, 'except pushed...to feel some squirm of sensation'. The sensation he then goes on to describe as 'terror'. 

The irony in this poem is that a treatment which has been statistically proven to save lifes, is being described in such a crude, vivid and raw way by Hughes which demonstrates the closeness which he feels with Synthia to be able to feel her mental and physical pain. It is also shown to be ineffective as the phrase 'cloud of you' suggests that she is merely now a body and any feeling in which she has to make her human is floating away in an external bubble. Hughes describes her voice to 'dive inwards' which proposes to myself as a reader that her condition is perhaps self-inflicted and incurable by any medical measure. Sylvia Path is lost within herself and her own psyche of the mind, whilst Ted Hughes himself has been exposed to her world and has lost himself in it too. 

Now, I'd like to make a slightly odd comparison of this poem to Aphra Ben's The Willing Mistress. This is because both of these poems contradict each other entirely however connect in very unusual ways. Aphra Ben uses her poem to break down social expectation of women's behaviour towards sexuality, as usually the women are described as reluctant or prude towards being freely sexual in this literary period. So she focuses on the liberation of women. However in a time of freedom for women, the post-modern era poem focuses it's attention on the oppression that Sylvia is facing, both physically from the ECT treatment and mentally from her condition, which creates a sense of irony. Although both poems represent the women as having power over men. Sylvia Path has seduced Hughes into her mind and life and has shared with him her 'tender place' which now has control over his life. Aphra Ben has seduced the lover described in her poem by showing him a rather more 18 rated version of her 'tender place' (haha I'm so funny). She now has the ability to take what she wants from the man and control his behaviour and actions.

Okay, I lied, it's quite a lot over 500 words, but I bet it was worth your time...

Hasna Maliq

EVERYBODY CLAP YOUR HANDS!

My favorite poem we have studied in class has got to be Ted Hugh’s The Tender place. His writing is a part of a series addressing his wife and her depression, it’s really like a big love letter to her. Before Sylvia Plath met Ted Hugh’s she had ETC in the past and this poem is about her having this treatment. In this poem, Hughes contemplates the mechanics and symbolism of what seems so brutal and elemental a treatment. He focuses on the fragility and beauty of her body "Your temples, where the hair crowded in, Were the tender place" and then makes us imagine the effect of electrodes there, in ever more shocking images: "They crashed thunderbolts into your skull," "They dropped you", "A rigid bit of bent wire" Across the Boston City grid." He then suggests that there is a link between this treatment and the kind of poet she became: her "voice" was scarred and "over-exposed / Like an x-ray," and when her words returned they were distorted and vulnerable. Ted talks of how the therapy was like used against her will like she was forced to have it. It is a very moving poem in which Ted Hugh’s dislikes a lot and expresses his hatred and how it has changed her. He uses great imagery and really gets across to the reader of how horrible it is. The poem has a tone of anger and but yet hopelessness and helplessness, and as much as he hates this therapy he realizes that to be with Sylvia he has to endure this brutality. 

By your fav boy, Tim <3 xxx luv ya! :D

My favorite poem - 'The Tender Place' 

Firstly, my favorite poem is probably the 'The Rag Rug' but my gal Leanne done an AMAZING analysis which I couldn't bear to compete with (and I couldn't think of anything else to write about it as she done it so well-woo love u darlin) SO HERE IS MY SECOND FAVORITE, 'The Tender Place'

SO! The postmodern era was the shift from the modern era, where there were strong, innate beliefs in society due to the various empirical observations scientists put forth, to the postmodern era. Due to this, the modern era  was known as the ‘age of reason/enlightenment’, as it gave individuals a solid, objective answer to all theories and uncertainty. Although,  due to significant changes in the economy, culture, society, science and philosophy in the 1950’s and 1960’s, a new era developed around 1949;

The Postmodern era

·       The name derives from the term modernity, which basically means a new, distinctive way of thinking.

·        Thus, new forms of literature were emerging different to the prior ‘medieval’ thinking.

·        These were more contemporary and involved techniques such as fragmentation, complexity, contradiction, ambiguity, suspicion of hierarchy, paradox and diversity.

Also, breaking down the fourth wall! (an imaginary boundary obviously, that were frequently broken in Elizabethan and Restoration drama, acknowledging the fictional work as well as the audience)

·         All these techniques combined were known to be reflective of the mind-set in the postmodern era. As individuals experienced the ‘EXISTENTIAL CRISIS’!! (crisis of existing?-a breakdown in humanity?!) Therefore, wanted to break from these traditional conventions and express how they feel their own way, providing us with art which overturn these modes.

Therefore, this shifted from the age of discoveries to the age of art and expression.

The Tender Place

-     Firstly, the title is quite ambiguous. Hughes could be referencing any ‘place’, yet as it is ‘tender’, we as readers learn that this ‘place’ must be sensitive and delicate. From reading the first line, readers are aware that Sylvia's ‘temples’ are the ‘tender place’. Readers could take this for the surface meaning of it addressing Sylvia's ‘temples’, or a the underlying meaning, which I am urged to think may be Sylvia's inner soul Hughes is referencing.

-       As we are aware Sylvia unfortunately experienced depression. Due to this, it may be that Hughes is commenting on how Sylvia's soul is the delicate ‘place’ that is subject to harm. This pose a double meaning as Sylvia is having physical, external ECT treatment to cure an underlying mental condition which is manifested internally in Sylvia.

-        Moving ooooon, Hughes stresses that ‘Once to check I dropped a file across the electrodes’- Considering this is about an ECT treatment the doctors are performing, I found it unusual as Hughes addresses himself as the person who ‘dropped the files’. This made me think it may be a reference to how Sylvia's depression impacted on Hughes, how he is forced to ‘drop’ and sacrifice his once calm life, for Sylvia's unstable mind set.

-        Which could effectively blow up any moment ‘like a grenade’.  Hughes dexterously in-cooperates this simile to portray the uncertainty in their marriage.  As this may display the hardship Hughes had to endure and the sacrifices he made in order to keep their relationship virile. Readers may even develop gratitude for Hughes as he handles this task whilst Sylvia was going through this life-threatening, challenging condition.

-      The poem shifts from first person to third, as Hughes depicts ‘somebody wired you up’ ‘they crashed the thunderbolt into your skull’ ‘their bleached coats and blenched faces’.

-        We learn here he has put her in the hands of a doctor, who is usually associated with being a life-saver and role model. Although, this is contradicted through Hughes paradox, associating them with harming Sylvia. This is portrayed through a pathetic fallacy, as the doctors are in fact crashing ‘thunderbolts’ into her skull. This may represent a destruction of Sylvia's mindset, or yet be allegorical to the human race during the 1950’s. As I mentioned above, people were experiencing an existential crisis. Sylvia's breakdown may be a symbol this crisis in society, as Hughes depicts the paradox of the doctors destructing her, mirroring the breakdown in society which overturned traditional norms.

-       Also, by incorporating third and first person, I got the impression Hughes may feel guilty towards allowing Sylvia continue with her ECT. Thus, this may be reflective on the shared blame Hughes feels, yet it isn't all his fault as ‘they’ are the ones who ‘pushed the lever’ not him.

- This idea of shared blame for Sylvia's condition is continued, as Hughes references her dad. 'You your daddy's leg'. This informs readers of the pain Sylvia's dad was also forced to go through, creating the sense that history is simply repeating itself. This is quite cynical, as it shows how Hughe's may be mentally anticipating Sylvia's death, as he places 'you' and 'your daddy' next to each other, readers may feel Sylvia's condition may mirror her 'fathers' leg amputation and effectively end in her passing away as he did. This is also evident as he expresses he was 'waiting for these lightnings' as if her condition has become so severe, her self-destruction is inevitable to him. We as readers feel sympathetic not only towards Sylvia, but Hughes, who is forced to experience the emotional effects of Sylvia's physical condition.

- We learn that even 'years later' ECT has made Sylvia become 'over exposed, like an X-ray'. By using this simile, we are able to understand how ECT treatment has made her even vulnerable and stripped her of her attributes she may of had prior depression. The X-ray connotation may present how she is now transparent and unprotected, like an X-ray.

- Finally, Hughes ends on a mournful note as he expresses ECT has left 'scorched-earth scars of your retreat'. The treatment has not only left physical exhaustion, but deep implemented 'earth scars'. This reference to nature gives us the idea that Sylvia's condition is natural and isn't curable by anything, not any technological advances. This portrays a realistic view of human nature, as Hughes depicts miracles aren't always possible. The condition is brutal and urges readers to understand there isn't such thing as quick fixes.

- Likewise, the modern era attempts to tackle these unrealistic, glossy conventions that was created by society, as she didn't magically transform, but in fact she retracted and 'retreated'. 

- This paralleled the human race as it was breaking down and people were creating their own interpretations. From this, I am drawn to think that Sylvia's unstable, fragmented mindset may symbolise this fragmentation in society.

Alsy yoooooooooooo

My favourite/most liked Poem

Okay, so I find it difficult to actually choose favourites, as all poetry is amazing… but on this occasion I decided that a poem I actually enjoyed reading and analysing was ‘The Rag Rug’ by Ted Hughes. Mr Hughes was a English poet and a children’s writer who was also the British Poet Laureate (he actually deserved it in my opinion, unlike some other poet Laureate’s there have been.) Hughes was married to a gal called Sylvia Plath whom most of his poetry is about. She suffered from serious depression and ended up taking her own life. Hughes received a lot of stick for this and was held responsible for the taking of her own life. The time in which Hughes was writing his poems was in the post-modernism era. At this time, poets used fragmentation and extreme subjectivity in their poems. This era is also heavily characterised by the Second World War and aspects of this are reflected within Hughes poetry. 

Mr Hughes looking nice and smiley 

                                                               MODELS. Hughes and his gal Sylvia 

Right, so ‘The Rag Rug’ doesn’t sound like the most interesting poem, but the ambiguity and open interpretation for the reader is probably the main reason why I like it so much. Hughes is clever in the way he presents the reader with the events in the poem so that they can make of it what they will. It’s quite a long poem, so I’m not going to put it in here (research it in your own time – active learning at its best) but I will go onto explain my own interpretations of the poem and give a bit of background knowledge. For me an important thing about this poem is the idea of what’s on the surface and what Hughes could potentially be talking about. So at first glance, it would seem that Hughes is speaking of his wife Sylvia making a ‘Rag Rug’ which someone had once made for her and so it motivated her to make her own. As we go through the poem there are common things that pop up such as ‘serpents’ ‘snakes’ and ‘coils.’ It was this that made me think, holl up, maybe Hughes is trying to tell us something different. After reading it again and going along with my super cool highlighters, I got the impression that the poem was about Sylvia and this rug, however, it’s what the rug symbolises that Hughes is trying to express. For me, my interpretations of the poem are as follows:

·         The title to start is simplistic which raises the idea that it’s got to have some sort of hidden meaning (it’s a poem, it was never going to be straight forward)

·         The references to “lightning” could be seen to refer to Hughes previous poem ‘The Tender Place’ which revolves around the electric shock treatment that Sylvia receives in order to treat her depression

·         “some tapeworm of the psyche” it was this line that was the winning line for me as it made something click in my mind, it raised the idea that maybe the process of making this rug removes the bad from Sylvia as she exerts her pain and suffering from her depression into the rug itself. And the same applies for the line “it freed me. It freed you” this as well gives the impression that the rug is a release and an escape from her depression and so the rug holds all the troubles and releases her and Hughes from it all. As Hughes continues with the poem we get the idea that this release from her depression due to the rug is like a perfect place for him and Sylvia as they don’t have to worry about anything it’s just them two

·         There is a stanza further in the poem which starts “later(not much later) which shows some graphic imagery and hence voices a frustrating experience for the pair as they try and battle her depression

·         The several references to a serpent or snake became clear for me in the last line of the poem “it survived our Eden” this is where the penny dropped for me as I was able to view the poem in a way that I understood. I therefore inferred that the snake represents the snake in the Garden of Eden in the Bible and hence the snake in the poem represents something bad. The snake alone has some connotations within this poem as it also links in with the rug. So for me, the way I see it is the snake and the rug are one and they both represent her depression. The fact that the snake keeps “coiling” around their relationship gives the idea that it restricts and suffocates them and this would make sense as if we think of the snake as her depression, it could be Hughes way of showing just how much of an effect her depression is having on the both of them

·         In terms of structure also, the disorganised structure and fragmented, jaggered sentence structures, emphasise the frustrations Hughes is experiencing.

·         Hughes is extremely skilled in the way he wrote this poem, he is able to create tension in the right areas and express his own frustrations at the same time

·         REMEMBER THOUGH; everybody has their own interpretations, nobody is right or wrong in literature, and that is the beauty of it all. The poem is essentially what you make it.  

To set a bit of context, just imagine that the woman in this photo is Sylvia with her serpent/snake which represents her depression 

In terms of comparing with other poems, the title of the poem shows differences in time and eras, for example, in John Donne’s poetry, he wrote about the Sun and used astrological features to speak of love or issues within his poetry, however here, all these years later, Hughes’ poem speak of a Rug. This just shows the differences in time as back in Donne’s day, a rug wouldn't have been seen as something worthy to write about.

The presentation of love in this poem is different from that in poems such as ‘first love’ by John Clare. Within this poem, Clare speaks of the beauty of love essentially and how it sweeps him off his feet when he meets this Purdy lady, whereas in Hughes poetry, his presentation of love essentially is shown using the Rug as considering the Rug is a wedge in their relationship, he still continued to love Sylvia and stand by her and this is what he presents in the poem. However, from his other poem “last letter” we see that maybe Hughes intentions weren’t all good however, who are we to judge ay?

To sum up why I like the poem so much (if I haven’t already), I’d say that I like Hughes style. I enjoyed the ‘puzzle’ effect he created in this poem, as he left it totally down to the reader to interpret what they want from the poem. As well as this I feel he was able to talk about a difficult issue that he and his wife had faced by presenting it with a simple object, such as that of a Rug. In my own personal opinion I feel that Hughes is a very talented individual and this poem is an excellent presentation of how good his poetry really is. 

Thanks for reading guys, Despicable Lea