Oxymoron. A oxymoron is a statement that contradicts itself, as in the word bittersweet. As you read “Thistles,” look for an oxymoron in stanza 2.
Caesura. A caesura is a major pause in a line of poetry. Writers use caesuras for effect and for variation in the rhythm of a line or stanza. As you read, look for examples of caesura.
Image. An image is language that creates a concrete representation of an object or an experience.
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“Thistles” is from the volume New Selected Poems, published in 1982. The selection shows many of the elements characteristic of Hughes’s work—violence of feeling, vivid and concrete images of nature and animals, direct vocabulary, and surprising meter and rhyme. Also characteristic is the pessimistic, yet vital, point of view toward the human condition.
As you read, make a cluster chart listing images from the poem.
Have you ever experienced nature as feeling antagonistic or violent? Explain.
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