Work and Play
The poem
Work and Play by Ted Hughes is about a comparison between a swallow and human
beings that are on a day trip. The swallow, is at work in the poem and is
feeling content. The humans, however, are supposed to be relaxing and having
fun, but they feel miserable instead.
The writer
is being biased in his poem. He tends to be in favour of the swallow. The poem is
describing the people as 'polluting' the environment. The message of the poem
is that we shouldn't destroy our environment and our health by 'baking'
ourselves under the sun. The poem talks about the tourists arriving and then
leaving unhappily. The writer is also describing the swallow's day, what it
does to entertain itself and returning to its home at night. The poem is split
into four, unequal stanzas.
The first three stanzas start off with a
description of the swallow and then humans. The last stanza, however, starts
off with a description of the humans and then the swallow. This makes us stop,
think and more eager to finish the poem, as it's a change of pattern. The writer
perhaps wants to leave the reader with a positive and happy image rather than a
negative and discomforting image.
The writer
uses a lot of alliteration and metaphor. He uses the word 'seamstress' to
describe the swallow, meaning a dressmaker. This metaphor is used to show how
she sews something using the sky and water as her material, which makes it now
an extended metaphor. The writer then uses 'But' again and brings back the
negative image. The humans are described as " ...laid out like wounded"
the metaphor is showing their pain in sunburn, laid out in rows, endangering
themselves, like a line of wounded soldiers. The metaphor, “Flat as in ovens”
and “Roasting and basting” give us the impression they are being cooked.
They're being compared to cooking meat. The word 'basting' is describing the
humans putting on sun cream and there's a bit of irony between the way we cook
meat. The word 'torment' shows us their agony and the word 'blue' gives us an
impression of the heat, as hot as a blue flame and the sun's harmful rays.
The three
metaphors he provided us with a powerful image of the swallow. The swallow is
rejoicing because, everyone has left, her day is over and now she can relax
with happiness. The irony of the poem, makes think that a swallow who works
hard can still be so happy with its life and there's us, who laze about and is
feeling unhappy. The writer has used a lot of good descriptive metaphors and
similes in his poem.
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