Lovesong by Ted Hughes

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

• From Crow, 1970

- These poems were dedicated to Assia and Shura, showing the anguish he was suffering over their death.

Question 2

Form and Structure

Answer 2

• Narrative form, with a violent, incessant pyrrhic metre.
• Lack of any punctuation, past tense, detached tone, third person narrative, the method of listing fact after fact and we see a relationship spoken of in violent, dark and vicious overtones.

Question 3

Subject

Answer 3

This poem describes the relationship between a couple who are deeply in love and experience all the joys and pains that come as a consequence.

Question 4

Language Techniques

Answer 4

Symbolism
-Through the symbol of sexual intimacy, life and death, creation and destruction are super-imposed on one another:
“In the morning they wore each other’s face.”
Imagery
-of violence
-Sexual pleasure and intimacy juxtaposed by repeatedly sado-masochistic images which suggest the destructive forces of passion more than its joys:
“Her promises took the top of his skull”
-Hughes begins with a cliché phrase we might find in a bubble gum pop song, while the remainder is in violent, deliberately ugly contrast.

Question 5

Mood

Answer 5

The very first sentence of this poem is lighthearted and almost cliché, however the rest of the poem has a threatening and violent mood to it, as Hughes describes the pain that comes with love.