Full Moon and Little
Frieda
Ted Hughes
Biographical Information
• Born 17 August 1930. Died 28 October
1998
• Married to Slyvia Plath-committed
suicide in 1963
• Lover Assia Wevill-died same way
• Frieda was first child of 2 from Plath
born in 1 April 1960
• FM&LF was a group of poems from the
collection “Wodwo”
Full Moon and Little Frieda
A cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark and the clank
of a bucket And you listening.
A spider's web, tense for the dew's touch.
A pail lifted, still and brimming - mirror
To tempt a first star to a tremor.
Cows are going home in the lane there, looping the
hedges with their warm wreaths of breath –
A dark river of blood, many boulders,
Balancing unspilled milk.
'Moon!' you cry suddenly, 'Moon! Moon!'
The moon has stepped back like an artist gazing amazed at a work
That points at him amazed.
The Title
• Full and Little-Contrasting images
• Relating the two objects together
• Moon-Symbol
First Stanza
• The evening can be said to be seen
through Frieda’s eyes-links to the ‘and
you listening’
• Tone of tranquillity and calmness
present-suggested by the words ‘cool
small’
• ‘dog bark’ and ‘clank’
• ‘Shrunk
Second Stanza
• Repetition carries on with description of
scene
• ‘You’ can refer to both reader and Frieda
• Sense of anticipation is created in the
next 3 lines ‘tense’ ‘brimming’ ‘tempt’
Third Stanza
• Slight change in the poem (follows on
from anticipation stanza 2)
• ‘Looping’ links to the wreaths
• ‘Warm Wreaths’ alliteration
• Cannot escape his past
• Darker tone is present- ‘river of blood’
• Cows represent bloodshed
• ‘Unspilled’
Fourth Stanza
• Sudden change of tone, brings Hughes a
nd reader back
• Repetition of ‘moon’ shows how it is no
w point of interest.
• ‘you’ implies again that Frieda is unaware
she is still innocent
• If Hughes is taken to be the moon
• Relationship between father and daughte
r
Fifth Stanza
• ‘Him’ refers to Hughes
• Repetition of ‘amazed’
Themes
• Relationships
• Memories
• Descriptions of nature
• Moon
Techniques used
• Imagery
• Repetition
• Free verse
Possible Exam Questions
• Explore the ways in which relationships a
re portrayed in Full Moon and Little Frie
da
• How does Ted Hughes create an atmosp
here throughout the poem, Full Moon an
d Little Frieda?