I was struck by Ted Hughes’ poem “Crow’s First Lesson.” I spent my entire Sunday working on my novel for Nanowrimo and feeling a bit burnt out. I read through the first few of Crow poems that are featured in Ted Hughes’ Selected Poems 1957-1994. I confess that when I started out my reading, I was not reading closely or with gusto. I felt kind of brain-dead, but then I came to the poem “Crow’s First Lesson.” I am not entirely sure if it was the violence of the image of Crow purging and retching trying to say “Love” or if it was the man and woman image that snapped me awake and made me read the poem a few times over just to make sure that I wasn’t loosing my mind and hallucinating explicit things happening in the poem. I wasn’t. So, I was jolted awake by the explicit content, but I was also struck by Crow’s (debatable) guilt. I like the neo-Genesis concept Hughes has going on in the Crow poems. It sort of reminds me of Rock and Bullwinkle’s Fractured Fairy Tales, but significantly darker and actually sexual.
Crow has this unfiltered quality about him/it. He hasn’t developed that superego that prevents him from thinking, feeling, or reacting the way someone or something ought to in particular situation. Crow, to me, is less trickster and more child-like. It reminds me of something I read about the primitive brain that exists in birds in lizards, which the human brain also has, but of course we’ve evolved processing centers that keep our more primitive impulses in check, sometimes… There was something really refreshing about The Crow Poems, especially after the emotional heaviness of Plath’s Ariel poems. Hughes is more of a storyteller, there is more a reliance of narrative and not on emotion in his poems. I think that is really interesting considering that Plath wrote stories, novels, and poems whereas Hughes primarily stuck to poetry.
scherwal said:
I too thought that the crow seemed to be like a small child that got caught doing something bad. I read “flew guiltily away” as just that, he for the first time was experience guilt. In every other poem we see the crow as this egotistical supreme little crow. I was also jolted by the violence, because I am horrified by all the gore and such.
jlam1030 said:
First of all, i love that you just compared crow to Rocky and Bullwinkle hahaha it definitely made me laugh, but I can kind of see what you mean. I would def like more of your take on that statement though! i do agree with you that Hughes has a narrative style, however I do not really agree with he him not relying on emotion in his poems. i absolutely think he relies on emotion, has does most poets, when writing. I do agree that the crow poems are such a refresher from Plath’s Ariel poems (which is surprising since I am a Plath fan, and not so much a Hughes plan). I love Crow! I find him interesting, immature, tricky, and as you said, almost like an adolescent. He has a lot to learn but think he knows everything. i would have liked to have read more about why you chose “Crows First Lesson” as your favorite and maybe picked apart the poem a little!!!
apowers8 said:
I really like what you said about Hughes being a storyteller, opposite Plath’s emotionally heavy “Ariel.” I guess it comforts me that you don’t have to feel deep emotions to appreciate a good story. The Crow poems were all very fun to read, but I don’t always feel like they’ve got a lot to say about deep emotional issues. Some are theological, others are cautionary, and some are violent. The diversity of the crow poems, while all hinging on the same character Crow is impressive to me.