summary of the poem ,Work and Play by Ted Hughes

 

Work and Play

                  -Ted Hughes

 “Work and Play” is a poem written by Ted Hughes. In this poem the poet makes a contrast between shallow and Human. The poet praises the beauty of the bird shallow and scorns at human being for his destructive and serpentine nature.

In the first stanza, the poet describes the heavy labor of the shallow in the summer season. He describes shallow as a beautiful bird with radiance feather and energetic flight, “blue dark knot of glimmering voltage”. The poet feels delighted to admire the beauty of nature, but he gets angered towards human being. He expresses his disgust towards human for polluting and destroying nature. He compares human to a serpent riding a car. In Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, a serpent comes to tempt Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. This serpent is a venomous creature and, in this poem, Hughes compares human to a poisonous creature polluting nature. 

In the second stanza the poet describes the shape of the bird as “the barbed harpoon”. He claims that the flight of the bird is perfect and attractive. But he mocks at human being to be an imperfect creature. He employs an unpleasant image to describe human. He criticizes the serpent of cars (human being) to a snake lying naked, shedding its skin under the hot sun in the beach. These human serpents roll like nude tomatoes lying on the beach and screeches without shame.

The poet calls the bird as a dressmaker for its dive and movement in the sky and ocean. He describes the beauty of the shallow’s movement in the sky. But he gives a negative picture for human. The humans are depicted as wounded soldiers lying under the hot burning sun. He mocks at human stating that they are being cooked “Flat as in ovens, Roasting and basting” and looks like roasted meat.

The head of man is compared to transistors, "Their heads are transistors". Human head damages the environment with the advancement of technology. He feeds flies and causes pain for those creatures. He gets into the car to return home with tiredness and idleness. The children in the car are still shouting and crying. The human is returning home spilling the poisonous gas “Inhaling Petrol”. It shows the destructive nature of mankind towards environment. The poet describes the return of the shallow

 “The swallow of summer, cartwheeling through crimson,

         Touches the honey-slow river and turning”

The shallow bird returns home with joy and happiness over the sun’s crimson ray reflecting on the river. This ray light touches the river and turns the water honey colored. The bird moves “hand stretched” with happiness and delight.

Ted Hughes makes a contrast between human and nature to reveal his theme. He decries the serpentine nature of human and his destructive nature in this poem “Work and Play”