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