Comparison between cockroach, hunting snake and horses

Similarities between
Hunting Snake, Pike, Horses, Cockroach
The first similarities I could see in the poems was a theme of ‘fear and respect’ towards the main creature of the poem shown through contradicting dialogue
The first example is ‘Pike’ by Ted Hughes.
The poet uses the poem to expresses his love and respect but also fear towards the fresh water cannibalistic fish. The first line of the poem “Pike, three inches long, perfect” shows the poets knowledge of the fish and he describes the fish as being perfect which shows us he respects the fish but in the line “But silently cast and fished with the hair frozen on my head for what might move” shows us that he is afraid of what might be lurking underneath the “heat struck Lillie pads” reinforcing that he not only loves the fish but also fears the fish.
Judith Wright talks about her love and respect towards ‘the great black snake’ in her poem “Hunting snake” The poet uses the line “we walked, and froze half through a pace” to show the readers that there is a threat, as people generally freeze when there is a dangerous animal which shows us that the poet is afraid of the snake, but then she contradicts this with the line “Curves of diamond scale, and we lost breath to watch him pass” as the words “curves of diamond” gives us a sense of beauty and elegance as diamonds are thought to be worn by beautiful women, so the poet is describing the snake as having diamond scales. So the scales is the ring and the snake is wearing the “ring” so the poet is comparing the snake to a beautiful and elegant woman showing us that she has a sense towards the snake.
The second part of that line “and we lost breath to watch him pass” in my opinion shows us that they are speechless as a common thing to say when you receive something amazing is ‘I don’t know what to say’ so the poet is saying that they were speechless at the sight of the great snake and that they were privileged to be witnessing. Further conforming my theory that the poet is scared of the snake but at the same time admires its natural beauty.
Horses was hard at first as I lost the poem but after google searching it I saw that Edwin Muir was also a victim of this love hate relationship between the poet and the animal.
He constantly describes the horse as majestic and beautiful creatures as he watches from a distance. He uses the line “They marched broad-breasted to the sinking sun” to describe them as proud and majestic and the 5th paragraph describes the gigantic size and power of the horses. These examples indicates the respect that the poet has towards the creature.
“Perhaps some childish hour has come again, when I watched fearful” is a contradiction as the poet talks about his love for the power and size of the creature thought the poem but this line shows us that he is in fact afraid of them as well. He remembers as a child he was scared of horses and that he has a felling of Déjà vu as he is watching them again. Showing us that he is in love with the animal that is also afraid of.
Cockroach was the hardest poem to explain the poets respect and fear for the creature. But a closer inspection shows that the poet likes the cockroach. In the first line the poet links the cockroach’s behaviour to his child hood as he describes the cockroach “skirting a ball of dust that rode the floor” as the ‘dust’ is a familiar object which to the cockroach and gives a sense of familiarity and safety which you have as a child. The poet uses words like “satisfied” which gives us a pleasant vibe showing that the poet likes the cockroach as it reminds him of his pleasant childhood experience. But this vibe changes about half way through the poem. The line “Restlessness that worsened over time” shows us that the poet now sees himself later in life and he is not happy as he was not happy with his life. This shows us that the poet is now afraid of the cockroach as he sees himself and he is not happy with what he sees. Conforming that the poet both loves the cockroach as he sees his childhood which he treasures and his present self which he despises.