Pike By: Ted Hughes

The title focuses immediate attention on the creature’s under scrutiny and on the natural world, which informs most of Ted Hughes's work, nature. This specific poem sets itself apart from Hughes's other works because it reveals something very personal, his fear of this cannibalistic fish at which stems from his childhood. The poem can be divided into three parts and three changing perspectives.

The first two stanzas set the scene and introduce the reader to this very intriguingly beautiful monster. By using the phrase, "Killers from the egg," Ted Hughes once again provides the dark and eerie tone that leaves the reader to question the connotation of this fish that was previously referred to as "perfect". It is ironic that a big man is afraid of a fish that is "three inches long". The narrator's role is also questionable because Hughes kept the main focus on the fish and its environment. The presence of symbolism is also evident throughout the first and second stanzas, by describing this fish as a "submarine" implying that it is mighty and powerful and the main predator of it's ecosystem. I believe that Ted Hughes not only personifies this fish as the monster under his bed but he develops this creature into a symbolic beauty. "Stunned by their own grandeur" this fish is the perfect killer with a "malevolent aged grin" yet it is "perfect" and a "delicacy". Symbolically, this fish is only doing what he has to, to survive especially considering that water is symbolic of life. This implication can only lead the reader to perceive that the author/narrator is not only afraid of this fish but he is also admirable of it.

"The jaws' hooked clamp and fangs" and the "gloom of their stillness" this imagery of motion paints a picture in the reader's mind that the actions of this fish are all deliberate yet somewhat violent. Hughes displays his brilliance in the following stanzas when he faintly implies that this fish is, in fact, a cannibal. "Three we kept behind glass..." "...Suddenly there were two. Finally one..." "...One jammed past its gills down the other's gullet..." This murderous connotation proves that Hughes does not only see nature's beauty but he can also identify the gruesome reality that is, Pike. Accepting this reality that murder is a way of life, Hughes really opens up to the idea that this fish isn't all that scary.

I believe that Hughes had a massive transformation throughout the course of this poem as it takes a dramatic turn when he begins to describe himself (the narrator) as a peaceful fisherman. The serenity of this pond described by it's "lilies" and "stilled legendary depth" show what Hughes is best at, descriptions of peaceful nature.  "Pike too immense to stir, so immense and old that past nightfall I dared not cast" although the perspectives have changed, the Pike fish is still the main subject. "The still splashes on the dark pond" this soothing darkness is not as murderous as the fish but it still leaves the reader with this eerie feeling in connotation to Pike. "Darkness beneath night's darkness had freed, that rose slowly toward me, watching." A very creepy ending to a very symbolic poem. Overall, Hughes did a great job of really expressing how he feels about this cannibalistic creature. The way he displayed his views in three different topic areas, really does prove that he has a true talent that supports his depth of imagination through imagery, especially when it comes to nature.