In this article, I am going to discuss with you the summary of Thrushes poem, which is basically an animal poem written by Ted Hughes.
Ted Hughes was one of the best poets of his generation and one of the 20th century’s greatest writers. He was appointed as poet Laureate in 1984 and held the office until his death.
He was known for his animal poetry like The Thought Fox, Thrushes, Hawk in the Rain, The Horses, and many more, and is known as an animal poet who places animals superior to human beings.
In the poem Thrushes, the poet compares Thrushes with human beings and tries to depict that Thrushes are far better than human beings.
The poem has been written in 3 stanzas with 8 lines in each stanza.
The title of the poem is Thrushes, and Thrush is a kind of small bird.
Summary Of Thrushes By Ted Hughes
As we begin the Thrushes summary, at the beginning of the poem, the writer says that the thrushes are on the lawn and are looking at their prey quite attentively, and when they do this, they look quite terrifying. The poet has used the word Sleek to show how smooth and glossy their body is.
As their body is so smooth and glossy, it seems that they are not living creature, but instead made of coiled steel, that is how calm and confident they are.
They have dark and deadly eyes, and delicate legs that trigger/activate for movement when they look at their prey far off and she will start to bounce and stab from behind. She will instantly overtake and the prey of the thrush will be dragged by it from the land.
There is no laziness or delay in this action of thrushes, as is seen in human beings. Thrushes never procrastinate and are never in yawning states. They never scratch their head like humans. They do nothing but bounce and stab as soon as they are sure that their prey is there. They know well how to kill their prey and without wasting a second, they kill their prey as if they are too hungry.
The writer then wonders whether it is because of their small skull or their trained body that they are so active and genius and not many thoughts run through their minds. It could be that they are genius by birth, or maybe it is because their kids are waiting in the nest which is why they are so active and quick. The writer is questioning which of these reasons is apt for explaining their bullet-like speed and automatic purpose.
Then, the writer compares the thrushes with Mozart (a popular music composer of ancient times known for his genius). Then he also compares them with a Shark, because when they do not find their prey and just even smell their blood, they are so concentrated on their prey that they start devouring themselves. And thrushes are also equally focused and concentrated on their prey.
Just like the sharks, the thrushes also hit their prey quite forcefully, they do this quite effectively and there is no doubt about it, and no one can divert their goal, unlike the way it happens to humans.
In the last stanza, the poet has made a clear comparison between the thrushes and humans. He says that men are not that active and focused on their goals. He says that if a man just sits on the back of a horse, he feels of himself to be a hero. When he is just sitting on a disk and writing, or carving at a tiny ornament for years, and even taking their work as worship, it feels like they are bending for some kind of prayers.
But this is not true, because there are a lot of loud thoughts in their mind. Their minds are filled with devils like Orgy and Hosannah (connected to something sexual, sexual pleasure) that come from hell, which distracts the work of humans, so they cannot do their work as attentively as thrushes do.
The writer says that like black water appears stagnant from the surface, but if you just throw a pebble, a lot of ripples are created and if you dive into it, you will have no idea where it started from and where it ended. The human mind is also the same as this black water, on the surface, it looks stagnant because there are a lot of thoughts in their minds that are running like water and there is no end to it.
So the writer wants to prove that somehow, humans are inferior to others.
The use of alliteration can be seen in the last lines of the poem and the use of metaphor can be seen when the poet has compared the thrushes with sharks.
Final Words
I assume that my article on the summary of the Poem Thrushes by Ted Hughes was quite helpful to you as I have tried to explain the summary in the easiest possible way. You can use this content for your upcoming exams and you are going to score great for sure. If you liked the summary, you can also check out my other articles on Summary Of September 1, 1939 Poem By W.H. Auden, Nineteen Hundred And Nineteen Poem Summary By W.B.Yeats, and The Hawk Roosting Summary By Ted Hughes