Comparing the way two poets, John Claire and Ted Hughes, write about :: English Literature

Comparing the way two poets, John Claire and Ted Hughes, write ab issue the theme of constitution and the season of summer.Through out my essay, in which is to follow, I will be comparing theway two poets, John Claire and Ted Hughes, write about the theme ofnature and the season of summer. The two poems that I am to study areWork And Play written by Ted Hughes and Summer Images written by JohnClaire in the 1800s.In both the poems the poets are talking directly to us (the reader).Although both poems are about summer and nature they are coming at usfrom very different points of view.In Work and Play Ted Hughes Talks directly to us about how nature interms of the swallow deals with summer the swallow of summer shetoils all the summer and how nature in terms of human beings dealwith summer But the holiday people were laid out like wounded flat asin ovens roast and basting. He makes the comparison between thebeauty of the swallow and ugliness of the humans by dint ofout the poem.When t hinking of summer one cant help but get a rosy picture in onesmind, the beach, the sun, and the fun But Hughes paints a morerealistic picture for us. He shows us the down side and instantlywipes off the mental picture and shows us its not all fun.Through out the poem he also points out how we are destroying oursurroundings giving it a very green, environmental feel to it. Hepacifically concentrates on cars, petrol and pollution Serpent ofcars that crawl through the dust in hailing petroleum. As you canclearly tell Ted Hughes is eer contrasting the humans (natureat its worst) with the swallow (nature at its best).John Clairs poem comes across from a different angle. He concentrateson everything that is right with nature through out his poem we get avery romanticised view of summer, and in every stanza he describesnature to its full beauty much beauty intervenes, turn up the funds lining to the sun. Every word that John Clair uses in his poemhe manages to romanticise in some way, fo r example the jetty snailcreeps from the mossy thorn John Claire softeners the word thorn byadding a soft word in front of it, in this case the word was mossy.In the time that Claire was penning this poems was seeing naturethrough rose coloured glasses, but he was also summing up what peopleof his time thought of nature.