The Minotaur Ted Hughes
What better feeling than to see your ball drop into the cup. It is such a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction to know that skill has helped to master the swing of golf. It took planning to decide on the proper club and skill to strike the ball well and a sharp eye to see the line to the cup. This planning is also on display in the imagery and flashbacks used by Ted Hughes in “The Minotaur”. Ted had to master the ability to choose the right words that can paint a picture in the reader’s head. The fourth stanza of this poem cuts deep into the relationship between Ted, his wife, and their children's. Ted describes that his wife’s “bloody end of the skein” ended their marriage. Ted carefully thought out his word choice to contrive his point across. Ted thought of the image that these words would portray to the reader and how they would vividly appear in the reader’s mind. Ted is trying to bestow on the reader that his wife was the cause of demise between Ted and herself. In reality, Ted’s problem with cheating certainly broke the marriage. Ted states that his spouse left the children alone. The children had to face the problem of their parents fighting without anyone's help. The mother was mentally unstable and Ted just did not care about the children. These kids were stuck in a situation that
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they did not know how to compass their way out of like being lost in a labyrinth.
In the last stanza of the poem, Ted goes to talking about his wife’s parents.
The image that this stanza is painting to the reader is how Ted’s wife had problems with her parents that scared her for life. Ted describes how her mother could never a help her, being a “dead-end”. The choice of the words “dead-end” boldly state how little help her mother could have helped her. Then Teds says how her father has risen again. He is describing that his wife has become her father and she looked down upon her father. He finishes his statement that his wife was becoming her father with “And your own corpse in it.” Ted has called his wife her father which she would never aspire to
be.
Flashback is another literary technique that is used throughout the poem. In the beginning of the poem, Ted is narrating an event that occurred between his wife and himself. One could acknowledge that this event was a flashback in the first stanza. The first line reads “The mahogany table-top you smashed” Ted uses the past tense of smash to signal that start of the flashback. Ted’s choice of words being in the past tense made the reader know that the event was in the past. If Ted would not have used the past tense then the reader would not be able to signal that there is a flashback. Ted does this again in the second stanza, second line,”That high stool you swung that day”. Ted is signifying that this event happened on “that day”.
For Ted to paint the vivid picture of imagery into the reader’s head took precise skill like that of a golf swing. Ted’s descriptive words allowed the reader to understand the deeper meaning of the conflict with his spouse. The use of flashback allowed the reader to almost go back in time and experience the event themselves. The choice of Ted’s words throughout the poem were precisely thought out to make the imagery stand out like how a golfer has to think out the swing in order to pull off the perfect swing.
they did not know how to compass their way out of like being lost in a labyrinth.
In the last stanza of the poem, Ted goes to talking about his wife’s parents.
The image that this stanza is painting to the reader is how Ted’s wife had problems with her parents that scared her for life. Ted describes how her mother could never a help her, being a “dead-end”. The choice of the words “dead-end” boldly state how little help her mother could have helped her. Then Teds says how her father has risen again. He is describing that his wife has become her father and she looked down upon her father. He finishes his statement that his wife was becoming her father with “And your own corpse in it.” Ted has called his wife her father which she would never aspire to
be.
Flashback is another literary technique that is used throughout the poem. In the beginning of the poem, Ted is narrating an event that occurred between his wife and himself. One could acknowledge that this event was a flashback in the first stanza. The first line reads “The mahogany table-top you smashed” Ted uses the past tense of smash to signal that start of the flashback. Ted’s choice of words being in the past tense made the reader know that the event was in the past. If Ted would not have used the past tense then the reader would not be able to signal that there is a flashback. Ted does this again in the second stanza, second line,”That high stool you swung that day”. Ted is signifying that this event happened on “that day”.
For Ted to paint the vivid picture of imagery into the reader’s head took precise skill like that of a golf swing. Ted’s descriptive words allowed the reader to understand the deeper meaning of the conflict with his spouse. The use of flashback allowed the reader to almost go back in time and experience the event themselves. The choice of Ted’s words throughout the poem were precisely thought out to make the imagery stand out like how a golfer has to think out the swing in order to pull off the perfect swing.