Analysis of Philip Larkin's "Church Going"

Analysis of Philip Larkin's "Church Going"

The theme of Philip Larkin’s poem “Church Going” is the erosion of religious abutments. Larkin is largely considered to be an atheist; however, he did live in a society that was predominantly Christian, so this poem is perhaps his way of trying to understand the attraction of religion. The narrator, who appears to be an atheist also, goes to a church, wanders around, and leaves unsatisfied. He doesn’t understand the allure of churches or religion, and wonders to himself when they will go out of fashion. He then goes on to imagine what they will be turned into once they do fall out of use. In the end, the narrator comes to the realization that religion and churches will never go out of style, because mankind has an innate need to believe in something greater than themselves.

This poem was written in 1954, and published in 1955. The rhythm of the poem is iambic tetrameter, and it has a strict rhyme of ababcadcd. The language of the poem is conversational, and the narrator poses many interrogatives (asks questions). Larkin uses a lot of religious imagery and words, some are used as they are intended, but others are used in a blasphemous way. Blasphemy is the act of expressing lack of reverence for God, but if one doesn’t believe in God can what they say really be considered blasphemy? That is just something to consider while reading the poem. The title can be interpreted in a few different ways: the act of going to church, the customs that keep the church alive, visiting the church as one would a theatre, and the disappearance of the church (Philip Larkin and Christianity).

Once I am sure there’s nothing going on

I step inside, letting the door thud shut.

Another church: matting, seats, and stone,

And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut

For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff

Up at the holy end; the small neat organ;

And a tense, musty unignorable silence,

Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off

My cycle-clips in awkward reverence, (lines 1-9)

Monumental brass of Simon de Felbrigge and wife  Margaret, St Margaret's Church, Felbrigg, Norfolk.

The narrator of this stanza is both clumsy (not tactful or subtle) and ignorant. In this stanza, the narrator talks about the present state of the church. Given that the narrator is an atheist, he makes sure that no one is around before he enters the church; he wants to be able to explore the mysticism of the church by himself. He lets the “door thud shut,” which is a bit disrespectful. The church is considered to be a holy place and holy places are to be highly cherished and treated with respect by all who enter them. Perhaps, letting the “door thud shut” was his way of seeing if the church was truly empty, because if it wasn’t empty then someone would appear when they heard the noise. The narrator sounds bored when he utters: “another church;” he seems to be uninterested in the church, but if that’s that case then why did he stop at the church to begin with? The narrator begins to describe the church from his clumsy and ignorant perspective. “Little books” refer to bibles or hymn books. In this context, sprawling is referring to the flowers that have been picked for Sunday service and are spread out in all different directions. The flowers are now brown, which we can infer to mean that Sunday was at least a few days ago, and that no one has come by since then to throw them out. “Brass” could be referring to the monumental brass that is commonly found in English churches. Monumental brass “is a species of engraved sepulchral memorial which in the early part of the thirteenth century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the pavement, and thus forming no obstruction in the space required for the services of the church, they speedily came into general use, and continued to be a favorite style of sepulchral memorial for three centuries” (Wikipedia). He continues by saying “and stuff up at the holy end,” which shows how truly unimpressed and ignorant he really is about the church. “The holy end” refers to the pulpit and the surrounding area. The organ is small and neat, which we can then interpret to mean that the church is small or that the church is poor; neat probably refers to it not being dusty, so there must be someone who comes there and looks after the church. The air is described as being tense (anxious), musty (moldy; stale; tasting or smelling of damp or decay), and silence so great that it cannot be ignored; I wonder if he is referring to the church itself, religion, or both. That “tense, musty” air brewed (to prepare by steeping, boiling, or fermenting) for “God knows how long.” In a Christian’s opinion, the narrator uses “God” in a disrespectful and blasphemous way. In respect for the church, the narrator has taken off his hat and cycle-clips (devices worn below the knee to keep trouser legs from getting caught in a bicycle chain), in awkward reverence (a gesture of respect). It seems like the narrator is a bit wishy-washy about his feeling towards the church; one minute he is uninterested and rude, and the next he is showing respect. He is having a Hamlet moment, to believe or not to believe that is the question.

Move forward, run my hand around the front.

From where I stand, the roof looks almost new—

Cleaned, or restored? Someone would know: I don’t.

Mounting the lectern, I peruse a few

Hectoring large-scale verses, and pronounce

“Here endeth” much more loudly than I’d meant.

The echoes snigger briefly. Back at the door

I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence,

Reflect the place was not worth stopping for. (10-18)

The narrator commands himself to “move forward;” he touches something, but still appears to feel nothing. He is still describing the church in general physical terms rather than the metaphysical ones that church is founded upon. He notices that the roof is semi-new; has it been restored or just cleaned? If it was just cleaned then it means that there is probably a caretaker hired to look after the church, but if it was restored that means that people actually care about this place and it isn’t as abandoned as the narrator perceives. The clumsy narrator doesn’t care enough to know whether it was cleaned or restored, because it is of no consequence to him; he doesn’t believe in God or church. He steps up to the lectern (a stand to support a book for a standing reader) as if he is the priest about to give a sermon. He peruses (to read over attentively or leisurely) the “hectoring [to intimate or dominate in a blustering way] large-scale verse” (biblical verses printed in large type for reading aloud). He ends his sermon with “here endeth,” which is the traditional way to wrap-up a Bible reading in church. “Echoes” are personified, echoes cannot snigger (a sly or disrespectful laugh, especially one partly stifled). The echoes snigger at his mistake of saying “here endeth” too loudly and at the irony of what he says. In the narrator’s opinion, religion is on a decline; so when he says “here endeth” he is not only talking about his sermon ending, he is also talking about religion ending; he is also saying that he will be  the last person to recite those words in that church. He goes to the rear of the church and signs the guestbook;thus, taking part in religion. He “donates an Irish sixpence,” which has no value in England. Donating valueless coinage to a church can be interpreted in two ways: first, he donates to show is disrespect for religion; or second, that donating to the church has no value. An arguemet could be made for both positions. He shows dispect for the church when he mounts the pulpit and proceeds to mock church ceremony. On the other hand, why donate to the church if you don’t believe in God? Even if what he donates has no value, the mere fact that he donated something could mean that he has, at least, a small amount of fear of God. He leaves the church and reflects that stopping was a waste of time.

Yet stop I did: in fact I often do,

And always end much at a loss like this,

Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,

When churches fall completely out of use

What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep

A few cathedrals chronically on show,

Their parchment, plate and pyx in locked cases,

And let the rest rent-free to rain and sheep.

Shall we avoid them as unlucky places? (19-27)

In stanza three, the narrator starts to imagine what the churches will be turned into once their original purpose is gone. He stops at that church often, trying to figure out what the allure of that place is. Religion confuses him, and he wonders what he is missing. He envisions the churches becoming a sort of museum frequently on exhibit for those who have never been to church or those who want to relive some childhood memory. The museums would display the church artifacts:  parchments, plate, and pyx, in locked glass cases, so that they can’t be stolen; treating the church’s belongings in this way gives them value, which in the narrator’s opinion is something that the church lacks. A parchment is the skin of an animal prepared for writing on. The plate is probably referring to one of two things: first, a collections plate where people donate money or other valuable things to the church, or second, it holds the bread and wine that are brought to the altar during Sunday service. The rest of the church should be used by the “rain and sheep,” because other than the artifacts the church is pretty useless. Or, instead of turning them into museums, should be regard them as unlucky places and avoid them altogether? Overall, the narrator is saying that churches are useless, but not forgotten.

Or, after dark, will dubious women come

To make their children touch a particular stone;

Pick simples for a cancer; or on some

Advised night see walking a dead one?

Power of some sort or other will go on

In games, in riddles, seemingly at random;

But superstition, like belief, must die,

And what remains when disbelief has gone?

Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky, (28-36)

Stanza four imagines the churches becoming places of superstition. Dubious (uncertain, feeling doubt, or undecided) women will come after dark to perform various superstitious rituals like “touching a particular stone,” picking “simples [medicinal herbs] for a cancer,” or “walking a dead one.” The power of that holy ground will remain in one form or another. Believing in superstition will end just like belief in God ended. The only things that will be left are the “grass, weedy pavement, brambles [rough prickly shrubs or vines], buttress” (a projecting structure to supports a wall), and the “sky.” The church will be overgrown with nature; what was once built from the earth will return to the earth, leaving only a few superficial remnants. 

A shape less recognisable each week,

A purpose more obscure. I wonder who

Will be the last, the very last, to seek

This place for what it was; one of the crew

That tap and jot and know what rood-lofts were?

Some ruin-bibber, randy for antique,

Or Christmas-addict, counting on a whiff

Of gown-and-bands and organ-pipes and myrrh?

Or will he be my representative, (37-45)

Stanza five is a continuation of the stanza four’s thought. The narrator of this stanza is isolated and meditative, and appears to be less deceived by religion. The church becomes more and more unrecognizable each week as the trees and plants overtake the structure. The buildings original purpose has become more and more obscure as well. He ponders who will be the very last person to seek out the church for its original purpose. Will it be one of the maintenance men, who look after the church? “Rood-lofts” are galleries, in churches, on top of carves screens separating the naves, or main halls, from the choirs, or areas where services are performed. Rood also means cross or crucifix. Or, will it be some “ruin-bibber,” who is “randy for antique”? Ruin-bibber stems from the biblical term wine-bibber, which is a person who regularly drinks alcoholic beverages. Using the definition of wine-bibber we can infer that a ruin-bibber is someone who regularly visits old ruins or churches; the ruins act like alcohol and make him drunk and randy (ill-mannered or sexually excited). Or, will it be someone who misses the smell of Christmas, no churches/religion essentially means that there is no Christmas. The term “gown-and-bands” refers to the gown and decorative collar worn by the clergymen. This visitor wants to hear the organ play Christmas music again like it did when he was a child. He also wants to smell the scent of myrrh (gum resin, from trees of eastern Africa and Arabia, used to make incense; one of the three presents given to the infant Jesus (Mathew 2 and Luke 2)) again. Or, will the last the last visitor be someone like the narrator; someone who doesn’t believe in God, but still wonders what all of the fuss is about.

Bored, uniformed, knowing the ghostly silt

Dispersed, yet tending to this cross of ground

Through suburb scrub because it held unspilt

So long and equably what since is found

Only in separation—marriage, and birth,

And death, and thought of these—for which was built

This special shell? For, though I’ve no idea

What this accoutered frowsty barn is worth,

It pleases me to stand in silence here; (46-54)

In stanza six, the clumsy and ignorant narrator returns, but this time he appears to have been touched by religion and found some new sort of respect for it. He knows that the “Ghostly [means both spiritual and saint] silt” (fine earth; especially particles of such soil floating in rivers, ponds, or lakes) was said to be spread over this “cross of ground” (most churches were built in the shape of a cross); nonetheless, he tends (to show an inclination or tendency) to travel there through the scrub (a thick growth of stunted trees or shrubs) of suburbia to try and experience the power of the church himself. The Church has stood for so long without being destroyed, so there must be something there, right? This “special shell” (i.e. churches) was built to celebrate marriages, births, and the lives of those who have died; so can religion be all that bad? The narrator shows respect for the church and religion by saying that even though he doesn’t know what this “frowsty [musty, uncared-for appearance] barn is worth,” it still “pleases him to stand in silence here.” Silence connotes comfort; he doesn’t feel the need to disrespect the church by making noise any longer, he simply enjoys his surroundings.

A serious house on serious earth it is,

In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,

Are recognized, and robed as destinies.

And that much never can be obsolete,

Since someone will forever be surprising

A hunger in himself to be more serious,

And gravitating with it to this ground,

Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in,

If only that so many dead lie round. (55-64)

Stanza seven shows the narrator as being an independent thinker; he realizes religion will always have a place in the hearts of man, because they need to believe in something that is greater than themselves. Churches will never fall out of use. Until about the nineteenth century, the word “serious” meant religious; so saying “a serious house on serious earth” means a religious house on holy ground. The church is where all of our compulsions (an irresistible persistent impulse to perform an act) are realized. The word “destiny” is given to major life events in order to explain them. Destiny is said to be God’s will; the cliché “everything happens for a reason” comes to mind here. The fear of God’s wrath holds people accountable for their actions. God gives humans guidelines to live their lives, which is something that a lot of people need. Religion teaches you “right” from “wrong;” thus, religion becomes a necessary entity to keep society running smoothly. People inherently want answers: why was I born? Why did such and such have to happen to me? Religion is able to answer these questions, which gives us a purpose. Only those who are dead know the truth about whether there is a heaven or not.

Works Cited

Philip Larkin and Christianity (essay): http://ttkhok.elte.hu/~clarika/english/essays/christ.html

Monumental brass: Wikipedia contributors. "Monumental brass." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012.

Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Twentieth Century and After. 8^th ed. Vol. F. New York: Norton, 2006.

Analysis of Keats' "Bright Star"

The Composition of "Bright Star

Keats wrote "Bright Star" in 1819 and revised it in 1820, perhaps on the (final) voyage to Italy. Friends and his doctor had urged him to try a common treatment for tuberculosis, a trip to Italy; however, Keats was aware that he was dying. Some critics have theorized that this poem was addressed to his fiance, Fanny Brawne, and connect the poem to his May 3, 1818 letter to her.

Definitions and Allusions

The word colored pink in the middle column is defined by the pink text in the third column.

line 1	Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--	Unchanging, constant
line 2	Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night!	Above, high over the earth. Keats is pointing out the star's isolation, as well as a positive quality, its splendour. Its separateness contasts with the poet's relationship with his beloved later.
line 3	And watching, with eternal lids apart,	Eyelids. The star's isolation is implicit in its watching and in its not participating. It never sleeps. There is also a lack of motion in these lines.
line 4	Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,	Hermit,usually with a religious connotation. Emphasizing the star's sleeplessness is part of the characterization of the star's non-humanness, which makes it an impossible goal for a human being to aspire to.
line 5	The moving waters at their priestlike task	The rise and the fall of the tides twice a day are seen as a religiously performed ritual. With the poem's shift to earth, there is movement and aliveness, as well as spirituality ("priestlike").
line 6	Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,	A religious cleaning; ritual washing. This reference continues the religious imagery of "Eremite" and "priestlike." "Human" is what the poet is and the star is not.
line 7	Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask	The "mask" is the covering of snow on the ground. This snow has pleasing connotations, being "new" and "soft." All the moon can do is "gaze."
line 8	Of snow upon the mountains and the moors-	Beauty (the snow) is found in diverse places on earth. The alliteration (repetition of M sounds) stresses the connection of these words.
line 9	No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,	The poet turns again to himself; "Still" has two meanings here: (1) always or ever and (2) motionless.
line 10	Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,	Movement and change in human life are introduced with "ripening," a contrast to the star.
line 11	To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,	"Fall and swell" are also change and movement . "Soft" intensifies the sensuality introduced with "pillow'd."
line 12	Awake for ever in a sweet unrest	In contrast to the eternal sleeplessness and motionlessness of the star, the poet's not sleeping is active ("awake"). Now change or flux becomes desireable, "sweet unrest," an oxymoron.
line 13	Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,	Repetition ("still" is used 4 times in 5 lines) emphasizes time/timelessness for human beings. "Breath" is flux, and "tender" makes it positive.
line 14	And so live ever--or else swoon to death.	Three of the last four lines use "for ever" or "ever," emphasizing steadfastness in time or eternity, but it is an eternity of love, passion and sensuality. In a swift reversal, the poet accepts the possibilty of dying from pleasure. "Swoon" has sexual overtones; orgasm is often compared to a dying (the French term for orgasm is le petit morte, or the small death). Because of its position as the last word in the poem and because of being an accented syllable, "death" carries a great deal of weight in the final effect and meaning of the poem.

 

Analysis of "Bright Star"

In the first line, the poet expresses his desire for an ideal--to be as steadfast as a star--an ideal which cannot be achieved by a human being in this world of change or flux, as he comes to realize by the end of the poem. In fact, he is unable to identify even briefly with the star; immediately, in line 2, he asserts a negative, "not." And lines 2-8 reject qualities of the star's steadfastness . Even the religious imagery is associated with coldness and aloneness; moreover, the star is cut off from the beauties of nature on earth.      Once the poet eliminates the non-human qualities of the star, he is left with just the quality of steadfastness. He can now define steadfastness in terms of human life on earth, in the world of love and movement. As in so many poems, Keats is grappling with the paradox of the desire for permanence and a world of timelessness and eternity (the star) while living in a world of time and flux. The paradox is resolved by the end of the poem: joy and fulfillment are to be found here, now; he needs no more. There is a possible ambiguity in the last line; is Keats saying that even if love doesn't enable him to live forever, he will die content in ecstasy and love?

Analysis of Ted Hughes' "Crow Tyrannosaurus" & "Pike"

                                                     Ted  Hughes

Crow Tyrannosaurus

1. The title "Crow Tyrannosaurus" reflects several of the motifs of his poem. The theme of the constant transformation is captured in the juxtaposition of "crow," a bird, and "tyrannosaurus," a dinosaur, to which we know the bird, is the closest modern relative. Continuation of life through death--the bird killing insects for sustenance, then the cat eating the bird, the dog consuming the cat, the man's very body likened to a slaughterhouse, and finally his decay and being eaten by the very worms stabbed by the crow--is also conveyed by the title's suggestion of the lineage of survivors. Interestingly, the two creatures appear in reverse chronological order in the title. I interpret this as zeroing in on the poem's preoccupation with the life cycle coming "full circle"--that the highest on the food chain eventually, through its death, supports the lowliest of life forms--and in this way alludes to a very "samsaric" conception of earthly life.

2. The first stanza sets the tone for the rest of the poem. It highlights a conflicting image in which we see the creation inherent in life and the suffering inherent in death that characterizes an absurd world. We see "creation" in the first line, but then Hughes goes on to describe it as "a cortege / Of mourning and lament." Pairing creation with mourning and lament seems unusual and contradictory. Furthermore, cortege literally denotes a funeral procession. So right off the bat, the reader is confronted with a paradoxical view of life and death, of creation and suffering, in the same image. As the poem unfolds, Hughes uses specific words with negative connotations to describe the actions of consuming food to preserve life. We see "the cat's body writhed / Gagging," the dog, a "bulging filterbag," and man being a "walking / Abattoir / Of innocents." Hughes uses all these negative words to describe an action that is necessary to preserve life and perpetuate creation. Together, these elements help illustrate a darkly ironic image of life and death, creation and suffering, that reflect the aspects of an absurd world.

(The way in which Hughes writes the third stanza helps the reader visualize its content. The first verse of the third stanza establishes that "The cat’s body writhed" (line 9). Next, the cat begins to "gag," which causes the cat to choke and pause (line 10). Hughes only places one word in this verse contrasting with the longer length of the previous verse. The narrowing of the tenth verse represents the narrowing of the cat's throat due to "gagging." Hughes then describes "A tunnel," which is also narrow and appears as a short verse on the page (line 11). Finally, the last verse of the stanza lengthens as Hughes depicts the "incoming-death struggles" (line 12). This lengthening reflects the numerous sorrows and death that the cat has caused.)

3. The poem is very interesting in the way that is talks about death. The poet uses words that are very graphic but also words that are somewhat sympathetic to the material being covered. This varied use of language is indicative of the crow’s mentality as the poem progresses. In the beginning, the crow devours everything in sight and is frightened by the terrible cries and shrills he hears. As he continues to eat the bodies of various animals he wants the terror to end, but his appetite is not easily satisfied. He realizes that he "ought to stop eating" but he sees more food and cannot control himself. Thus the sorrow of both the crow and the animals he hungers for remain filled with sorrow. ▲

4. The term “;innocents”; alludes to the cycle of life and death and the food chain to which we are constrained. The past 3 stanzas talk about basically how insects are eaten by birds, which are eaten by cats and dogs. Finally, since humans are at the top of the food chain, we inevitably have to consume and kill these “;innocents”; in order to quench our hunger. He questions this by saying “;ought I to stop eating,”; but ultimately there can be no other way. Perhaps the title is appropriate for this moral dilemma because a crow is known to be one of the most intelligent birds while a Tyrannosaurus Rex is often ascribed to being a ferocious killer/carnivore.

5. Hughes provides many words that are appealing to the readers' eye and ears throughout the poem in which helps the readers to effectively visualize the scene. The word “;quaked”;(1) helps the readers to hear and look the scene just like the crow in the scene. In stanza 7, the crow sees a grub and shows the readers how he kills it by stabbing, but Hughes also provides word “;weeping”; of the grub (the crow might have also wept), the poem ends with a sentence ending with “;the ear's deafness”; (33) which indirectly reveals the mercilessness of the crow.

6. The words used in this poem created very dramatic and violent images. Hughes creates a monster that won't stop killing. However, it is apparent from this stanza that the monster does not want to kill. This idea is apparent in the line, "Alas/ Alas, ought I/ to stop eating and try to become the light?" The monster believes once he stops killing, he will become 'light," this term gives a positive connotation. The word light reminded me of the association to the color white, which commonly stands for peace. In comparison to this, the monster feels dark and regrets his killings. Even though the monster wants to stop killing, he cannot help but to kill. The repetition of the word "weeping" shows the monster does not want to kill, because he is crying while he is killing.

7. The Crow has to stab the grub, simply because he is Crow. At first, he is aware of the suffering involved: 'he heard weeping', and sympathetically weeps himself. But, paradoxically, this very weeping improves his eyesight for the grubs that enables him to kill and makes him deaf to the suffering involved. Suffering and death is a trap, which Crow cannot seem to escape but he can ignore it. The reader also gets a stabbing feeling because there is no punctuation and they are fragmented giving the feeling of pecking at the ground. He is not concerned with the situation of the grubs because it is natural to eat when hungry, almost a reflex action.

8. I don't know if this is just Ted Hughes style as I haven't read a lot of his work, but the enjambment of lines really slows the poem down, forcing the reader to focus on very specific, distinct ideas and images. In addition to slowing the poem down, I think the almost illogical structure of sentences makes it difficult to comprehend on a larger scale; we pay too much attention to detail. To solve this, Hughes uses a lot of repetition, which helps the reader go back to past ideas and relate different parts of the poem with one another, or when repetition is more concentrated into one area, clarity is gained because the repeated words stand out, giving the reader a general sense of what the most important concepts are. ▲

The “;eye's roundness”; that comes at the expense of the “;ear's deafness”; is a result of the primal nature of animals to hunt and kill. Just as the crow kills and eats the worm, and so on and so forth, humans are described as a walking slaughterhouse. While the crow does questions whether or not he should resist and “;become the light”;, the following line, “;But his eyes saw a grub. And his head, trapsprung, stabbed”;, shows that this mental hesitation is taken over by the physical instinct to kill and survive. By comparing this very human need to the “;light”;, it is implied that the “;light”; is something divine: not human and not vulnerable to physical instincts/needs. Over time, the crow's ear grows deaf to these sounds (the line “;weeping he walked and stabbed”; implies the passing of time in which the crow continually kills worms), and hunts with more skill and no remorse.

Pike

It is about a pike that is described as a monster; lots of personification. You will see by looking at the place in my memory very hard and very carefully, and by using the words that grew naturally out of the pictures and feelings. I captured not just a pike, I captured the whole pond, including the monsters I never hooked."

The poet emphasizes the perfection of the Pike in the first stanza. The pike appears to be just perfect in dimension: “three inches long, perfect. “The whole body of the pike has green and yellow stripes across it. The killer-instinct exists right from the hatching of the egg. This violent streak is hereditary: it goes generations back: "the malevolent aged grin. “They stage a dance on the surface attracting the flies, asserting their presence. Hughes has always utilized animals as an exaggerated metaphor for the instinctual inclination of Man.

They move stunned and overcome by their own grandeur; exhibiting narcissistic tendencies in the process. The algae appears as a bed of emerald. As one looks from above the waters, their silhouette appears magnified and the length is pronounced :"a hundred feet long in their world. “The line may also signify the flamboyance of the Pike. It is fragile; and holds the enigma and secrecy of submarines.

In the ponds, they are found also below the heat of the lily pads. They can be discovered in the shadow of the flower's stillness. Either they are attached as logs to last year's leaves or appear to hang in a cavern of weeds.

The jaws are perfectly formed 'clamped' to easily prey upon their victims, and the fangs haunt since generations. There appears to be no change in the practical utility of these preying instruments. Theirs is a life subdued to its instrument-the fan and jaw-the purpose is relegated to the practicality of the situation. The kneading of the gills and the pectorals involuntarily performs their respective functions.

Fry (the young ones of fish) are kept in a glass jar, for the pike to prey on. There were three of these small fish. As these kept disappearing, the Pike seemed to get bigger and bigger.

With the pike having devoured the other fishes, it now had a sagging belly. It held the grin that it was born with. This particular grin is more pronounced now as the fish is satisfied. The truth is that they spare nobody, even their own kind as the poet talks of two pikes "six pounds each, over two feet long". They are dead in the willows as one gets choked while swallowing up the other. One jammed past its gills down the other's gullet. The part of the pike, being eaten, projected its eye with the same firmness (iron) that was characteristic of the species, as the film of the fish shrank in death.

The pond that the poet fished in had lilies and tench that foregrounded the scene .The tench is a fresh water fish of the carp family that had a tenacious grip over life. Therefore, its exuberance seemed to exist and "outlast" the preexisting stones in the pond. The term 'monastery' refers to how the stones were ordained to live a secluded life: but the blossoming of the lilies and the liveliness of the tench had relegated their concerns.

As Hughes refers to the "depth" note the reference to the depth in the introduction to the poem above. This 'depth' is by itself 'legendary' as it is emblematic of the deep-rooted heritage that England is synonymous with. This depth was 'stilled' or static not meant to change with ravages of time. The Pike was not only an aspect of this heritage; it was an inherent part of man's basic nature as this violent streak is universal .The human -being also has this killer/survival instinct right when he cracks from the egg. This instinct is inborn, but the sophistication that he develops is acquired. Nevertheless, this aggression behavior remains in this subconscious. This killer instinct is a metaphor for the revolutionary instinct of England that makes its heritage what it is today.

The poet silently engaged himself in fishing. In the poem, fishing stands as a metaphor of 'self-discovery'. The hair that had grown after his birth, was a symbol of his sophistication; as he probed his roots, it had frozen. In the darkness of the night, the poet 'fished 'for the slightest sign of instinct-"for what might move, what eye might move." In contrast, to the deeper concentration of the poet, the splashes seemed conspicuous in the still of the night. The nocturnal owls seemed to be hushing up the floating woods that appeared to be floating to the poet in his partial dream. Beneath the night's darkness another darkness was revealed (freed)-that of the poet's. "That rose slowly towards me, watching. "This was the poet's other self that he encountered-his darker side.

When one grasps the real meaning of the poem, one comprehends that what the poet referred to in the Introduction to the poem as "quite small lake" is really his refined self. As he reaches the phase of self discovery, he asserts that he caught all the inherent irrational impulses in him:" I captured not just a pike, I captured the whole pond, including the monsters I never hooked. "This is his "prize catch."