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Ben Russo
Mrs. Boyd
MYP English 9
May 7, 2013
Ted Hughes, an English poet, who experienced a great deal of grief and sadness from the
death of his first and his second love as well as his child. “The Horses” by Ted Hughes tells the
stories of horses that are untouched by their surroundings. This parallels the blame that was put
on him for the death of his wife. “The Horses” by Ted Hughes resembles his struggle and
journey to find peace and happiness through the tragedies that awaited him in his life.
Ted Hughes’ life leading up to the tragedies and grief, was filled with love and happiness,
which he was later able to find towards the end of his life. Hughes was born in northern England
in 1930 and attended Pembroke college where he began writing poetry (“The Horses” 109).
During this time he fell in love with an American poet named Sylvia Plath (“The Horses” 109).
They then married a couple months later (“The Horses” 109). In 1957 Ted Hughes published
“The Horses” (“The Horses” 109). In 1962 Ted Hughes fell in love with Assia Gutmann Wevill
and separated from Plath (“The Horses” 109). Before Hughes and Sylvia Plath could divorce
officially, Plath killed herself by asphyxiation from the gas oven in their kitchen (“The Horses”
109). The literary community portrayed Hughes as the villain and believed that Hughes was
behind Plath’s death. Later, Wevill murdered their daughter that they had together and killed
herself (“The Horses” 109). In 1970, Ted Hughes married Carol Orchard in 1970, he then died
in 1998 (“The Horses” 109). During, the time between Plath’s death and Wevill’s death (and the
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death of their child), hughes faced an enormous amount of grief and sadness. Then, it appears
that Hughes was happy during his marriage with Carol Orchard in his later years.
Criticism of “The Horses” notes the sensuous appeal and imagery of this free verse poem,
but also the wisdom that Hughes puts forth. Critic Sheri Metzger Karmiol states that “Even the
positioning of the horse’s mane invites the reader’s touch” (Karmiol 118). She goes on to say
that “They do not move; they only endure” and “He envies their strength, endurance, and ability
to patiently wait for whatever is to come” (Karmiol 119). Karmiol recognizes the symbolism of
the horses and the larger meaning behind the poem. Sudip Bose draws on the more literal nature
of the poem remarking “as the west Yorkshire hillsides of his boyhood, an unforgiving landscape
of immensity and grandeur - in order to render a complex inner world” (Bose 122). These critics
recognize the senses Hughes’ “The Horses” appeals to and its imagery, but also bring to the
surface the deeper meaning of strength and courage, which the horses symbolize.
“The Horses” by Ted Hughes fills the reader’s mind with imagery, which allows him or
her to understand the symbolism of the horses in the poem. Hughes sets the tone of this free
verse poem by creating a clear image of the setting through the use of imagery. The reader can
picture the horses’ stone manes and “world cast in frost” (Hughes 4). Hughes enables the reader
to have a clearer image of these horses, which allows the reader to capture the message of the
poem; in order to have strength one must endure his or her surroundings. The horses are a
symbol of strength by enduring their environment. The theme of this poem is captured in the
final line “Hearing the horizons endure” (Hughes 37). Ted Hughes’ “The Horses” enables the
reader to better understand the symbolism of the horses by the vivid imagery who deploys.
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The horses that endure the early morning in the countryside foreshadow the strength that
Hughes needed in his later life through his struggle to find happiness through multiple tragedies.
Since the poem was written before the tragedies unfolded, the feelings Hughes adds to the poem
cannot be related to what he faced in his later life. The message of the poem is still relevant to
Hughe’s life. “They do not move; they only endure. The narrator watches the horses with what
can only be called envy” (Karmiol 119). This outlines Hughes’ internal struggle during the death
of Plath and Wevill, as well as their daughter. Hughes was quiet during the deaths of Plath,
Wevill, and his daughter and he withstood the attention put on him from the literary community.
Although tragedies had no effect on the poem due to the chronological order of events, they are
still connected in this way. It is almost ironic how Hughes was unaware of the relation between
the poem and his life following that. “The Horses” resemble the struggle Ted Hughes faces
following the death of Plath, Wevill, and his daughter, even though they are in no way related.
“The Horses” brings across a message of endurance and strength, which was needed by
the author, Ted Hughes who faced tragedies in his life after the creation of this poem. Through
the death of his wife, Sylvia Plath and his mistress, Assia Wevill, as well as his daughter, Hughes
endures and criticism the attention placed on him until he is able to find happiness.
Unknowingly, Hughes wrote “The Horses,” which resembles the struggle he faces through his
life and how he endures it. The symbol of the horses in “The Horses” by Ted Hughes resemble
his journey to find strength like the horses, through the tragedies that unfolded in the years to
come.
Works Cited
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Bose, Sudip. “The Horses.” Poetry for Students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 32. Detroit: Gale,
2010. 121-123. Print.
“The Horses.” Poetry for Students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 32. Detroit: Gale, 2010. 108-118.
Print.
Karmiol, Sheri Metzger. “The Horses.” Poetry for Students Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 32.
Detroit: Gale, 2010. 118-121. Print
“Ted Hughes, The Horses.” Poems. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 May 2013.
Ted Hughes, “The Horses”
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I climbed through woods in the hour-before-dawn dark.
Evil air, a frost-making stillness,
Not a leaf, not a bird A world cast in frost. I came out above the wood
Where my breath left tortuous statues in the iron light.
But the valleys were draining the darkness
Till the moorline - blackening dregs of the brightening grey Halved the sky ahead. And I saw the horses:
Huge in the dense grey - ten together Megalith-still. They breathed, making no move,
with draped manes and tilted hind-hooves,
Making no sound.
I passed: not one snorted or jerked its head.
Grey silent fragments
Of a grey silent world.
I listened in emptiness on the moor-ridge.
The curlew's tear turned its edge on the silence.
Slowly detail leafed from the darkness. Then the sun
Orange, red, red erupted
Silently, and splitting to its core tore and flung cloud,
Shook the gulf open, showed blue,
And the big planets hanging I turned
Stumbling in the fever of a dream, down towards
The dark woods, from the kindling tops,
And came to the horses.
There, still they stood,
But now steaming and glistening under the flow of light,
Their draped stone manes, their tilted hind-hooves
Stirring under a thaw while all around them
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The frost showed its fires. But still they made no sound.
Not one snorted or stamped,
Their hung heads patient as the horizons,
High over valleys in the red levelling rays In din of crowded streets, going among the years, the faces,
May I still meet my memory in so lonely a place
Between the streams and the red clouds, hearing the curlews,
Hearing the horizons endure.