A Critical Comparison of The Stag And Roe-Deer

A Critical Comparison of The Stag And Roe-Deer

There are six stanzas, which are each seven lines long. This is

written in free verse, it has no rhyming scheme and there is no rhythm

that I can see. The lines are about ten words long, apart from the

last two lines, which are shorter. The title is simple and

straightforward. It is significant that the whole of the stanza is

about people except for the last line, which is about the stag,

keeping a distinction between the two.

The poem is set at Exmoor, which is well known for stag hunting.

Exmoor is in the countryside and has a low population, so the idea of

a traffic jam there is unusual. The presence of so many people is

ludicrous. It takes place in November, a month associated with death

and misery.

The Stag is written in the third person singular, it is through the

eyes of an unattached observer. This poem is about a hunt, and the

prey is a stag that is running elegantly through the surrounding

countryside. There are lots of spectators and one of them; we are led

to believe, is describing the events of the pursuit.

This poem is proud and refined at the beginning; a stag is running

through his fields and over his forests. This idea is beautiful and

natural. The poem then, however quickly turns sour and the

gracefulness is lost. The beauty of the run changes into the terror of

the chase. The pace of the poem picking up also reflects this.

This poem also uses personification throughout, it is called "his

private forest", and again near the end the stag is described as

"weeping", giving the stag human qualities.

The people in this poem are seen as being selfish and undignified,

which creates a comparison to the Stag who is graceful, and it makes...

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...ndeer.

The poet then uses boil to describe the way the snow is falling, a

word that is not generally associated with snow. Instead of saying

that the Deer disappear into the distance he says "The snow took

them", which is a much more interesting way to describe it. It also

creates the idea of every last trace of their encounter vanishing,

even "their nearby hoofprints as well"

The last couplet is short and the use of the snow echoes the

"inspiration" that the poet feels. This ending is an example of

Bathos, the tone lowers and it mirrors the surreal events of the

meeting that are ended very suddenly and rather flatly.

I found that Ted Hughes is very good at using metaphors to relay his

beliefs and views on our society. Roe-Deer was my favourite of the two

poems because it was a more peaceful and beautiful story than the

horrific tale of the Stag.