The poem “Snowdrop” is a piece of art that is brief and detailed in its imagery. Snowdrop symbolizes a flowering plant with small white flowers during the end of the winter season. Ted Hughes used snowdrop as the title of the poem to signify a drop of the snow that is usually symbolic of brevity. The poem demonstrates how people approach life and various ideas relating how short life is during to the winter season. Therefore, this paper seeks to highlight the analysis of snowdrop by Ted Hughes with regards to its structure, language, and theme.
In Ted Hughes pieces of art, the Snowdrop, the theme that is extensively covered in the poem, is the season of winter. For instance, the first line of the poem states that “Now is the globe shrunk tight” indicating the compression and condensation as a result of winter. Paradoxically, one may tend to think that the author of the poem had anticipated the effects of globalization, as he asserts the same.
The effects of the winter season have brought about various negative consequences worldwide.
Ted Hughes demonstrates the effects of winter in his second line of the poem by stating that “Round the mouse’s dulled wintering heart”. Additionally, the author stretches further stating that “Weasel and crow, as if molded in brass” indicating the adverse effects of winter. According to the author, winter is characterized by a lot of negativity such as the dullness of the weasels and crows in their preying nature upon the rodent-like creatures.
As a result, the movements of weasel and crows have melted down into heavy gaits because of the weight of grass. According to Ted Hughes, the beginning of the winter season led to the subsequent loss of sense of alertness to animals, and thus they become distracted.
The language used in the poem is complex and symbolic. For instance, the use of metals in the Bible demonstrates a wide knowledge on the process of salvation among Christians. A deeper comprehension of these metal provides an individual with an in-depth information and knowhow on the brilliant ways on how God used various metals in the Bible such as Gold, Silver and Brass to symbolize nourishment and the growth of faith in Christians with regards to redemption and adoration.
Therefore, the use of animal in the poem is symbolic. Ted Hughes uses animals to symbolize those human beings who turn to spiritual nourishment and refinement when they go through the winter of their lives. However, the survival instincts of the human beings may limit the situation need for their survival. The complexity and symbolic nature of the language used by the author are further demonstrated in the line “move through an outer darkness” to refer to the Snowdrop and the flowering plant.
Additionally, the line “move through an outer darkness” symbolizes mother earth. The flowers of the flowering plant are burdened with the snow, and as a result, they are weighty and crystalline, and consequently, becoming the brutal stars of the night that assists the predators in their endeavors. The author uses the line “brutal stars” to illustrates how violence has permeated the globe. This is because contrary to the “guiding stars,” the brutal stars help in the killing of the other animals.
The poetic structure of the poem Snowdrop is written with the fundamental building- block of prose in the sentence. Snowdrop is written in a standard form with the appropriate line lengths. Additionally, there are a few fitted ideas and phrases that end the line of the poem making it easier for the readers to take a little pause. For instance, “Weasel and crow, as if molded in brass” and “with the other death. She, too, pursue ends”. Ted Hughes has appropriately managed the use of end-stopped lines and thus making it easier for the natural stopping points in the poem.
