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Ted Hughes

Full moon
and little Frieda

More challenging questions!

Keith Tankard
Knowledge4Africa.com
Updated: 1 March 2014
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The poet is walking one cool evening with his daughter, the little Frieda. Suddenly and very excitedly, she points to the full moon rising.

The poet paints a magical picture to conjure up the memories of this dramatic and memorable event,



ABOUT THE POET

Ted Hughes was born in 1930 in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire. His early years were lived in a rural setting where he learnt the love of nature and its creatures.

He would later study at Cambridge University where he and some fellow students produced a poetry journal. It was at the launch of this journal that he met the American poet, Sylvia Plath, whom he soon married.

Hughes believed that poetry and magic were intertwined. Each, he said, is a healer.

Each is the means to transport the human spirit from the dark, subconscious side of human nature into the world of light and well-being.

Poetry therefore lies in the world of creation, in the world of everyday miracles. It is the pathway into the realm of the imagination, the journey into the inner universe and exploration of the genuine self.

The modern world, said Hughes, overvalues the rational, objective side of human nature. Such beliefs cause fear and pain. Healing and renewal, on the other hand, are the true purpose of poetry and magic.

The poet is therefore a shaman -- a magical medicine man who makes journeys to the underworld of the subconscious to bring back lost souls.

The poet's wife, Sylvia Plath, committed suicide in February 1963 and her death affected Hughes profoundly. It would take four years before he published again -- and this collection contained some truly bleak poems.

Within this anthology, however, was "Full moon and little Frieda" -- appearing like a ray of light, a journey once more into the healing world of magic.

Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:



"A cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark and the clank of a bucket."
  • Comment on the poet's magical description of it being a "cool small evening". (4)

[Need help?]

  • How could the evening be so small that it is "shrunk to a dog bark and the clank of a bucket"? (6)

[Need help?]




"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."
  • What words does the poet use to show the tension of the moment? (4)

[Need help?]

  • Why would the water in the pail be a "mirror to tempt a first star to a tremor"? (4)

[Need help?]

  • Comment on the use of alliteration and sibilance in this phrase. (4)

[Need help?]




"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."
  • Comment on the purpose of the alliteration in these lines. (4)

[Need help?]




"The moon has stepped back like an artist gazing amazed at a work
That points at him amazed."
  • Explain the amazing, magical twist that the poet uses here: personifying the moon while capturing the child into a moving picture. (10)

[Need help?]




The poet believed that poetry and magic were one and the same thing.
  • How is this shown in "Full moon and little Frieda"? (10)

[Need help?]




The poet creates an event as if it were a painting which captures a moment in time.
  • Would you like to comment on this idea? (10)

[Need help?]




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