Abstract

 This paper aims to explore the ecocritical perspective of Ted Hughes in his poetry as an alternative and complementary approach to anthropocentrism. The present study, immersed in the ecocritical theoretical insights, is significant in terms of pinpointing Hughes' contribution to advocating the need to promote eco-friendly and symbiotic attitudes for ensuring what is termed as ecological balance. In his poetry, it is evident that nature still retains vigour, vitality, and primal energy, which is lost by man. Obsessed with the idea of conquering nature, which has its roots in the enlightenment ideologies of the nineteenth century, reason- led humans have taken a dangerous route to reach the pinnacle of worldly success by defeating the environment around which man believes, is his enemy so must be vanquished. Ted Hughes is the one finest nature poets of the twentieth century, highly acclaimed for his treatment of nature, environment, animals, and symbiotic relationship between man and his environment. Animals and ecological concerns frequently appear in his poetry, and he shows a delicate and human concern for the non-human creatures and believes in the harmonious co-existence of humans and non-humans. This paper explores biocentrism in Ted’s poetry as an alternative and complementary approach to anthropocentrism.

Key Words

Anthropocentrism, Biocentrism, Ecocritical Approach, Ted Hughes.

Introduction

Ecocriticism is a theoretical lens that studies literary texts to explore the interface between human activity and the immense variety of natural or non-human phenomena which relates to human experience. Eco- Centrism is the perspective that emphasizes on the intrinsic value of all non-human elements of nature. The most widely quoted definition of ecocriticism was written by Cheryl Glotfelty in 1996 that is intentionally broad and inclusive, defining ecocriticism as "the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment" (Glotfelty, 1996, p. xviii). Glotfelty (1996) explains that ecocriticism takes an earth-centered approach to the study of literature, in the same way, that feminist criticism brings an awareness of gender and Marxist criticism highlights production and economic class. William Rueckert first coined the term ecocriticism in his 1978 essay, ‘Literature and ecology: An experiment in ecocriticism,’ where ecocriticism denotes “the application of ecology and ecological concepts to the study of literature” (Rueckert, 1996, p. 107). Here Rueckert introduces the ecology of poetry, where ecological principles are used to relate poems to the natural world, comparing poems to energy pathways and green plants. Interestingly, ecocritic William Howarth draws our attention to the roots of “ecocritic”: “Eco and critic both derive from Greek, Oikos and kritis, and in tandem, they mean 'house judge,’ . . . So the Oikos is nature, a place Edward Hoagland calls ‘our widest home,’ and the kritos is an arbiter of taste who wants the house kept in good order…” (Howarth69).

Man used to live in a close harmony with nature, but as he progressed in science, technology, and other fields he choked this bond of affection with elemental force of non-human life. Ancient man lived his life in full accord with animal and botanical nature, but with the passage of time, as he acquired wisdom, intellectualism and rationalism, he started to tame the natural elements to satiate his hunger. Hughes’ profound and philosophical love and concern for nature is, to a great extent, inspired by the plants and the animals-the crow, the jaguar, the tomcat, the skylark, the hawk, the thrushes, the horses, and the pike, the salmon, all a part of nature, whereas man has removed himself so far away from it. Secondly, these animals share basic instincts with man, and the poet has chosen animal imagery to represent actually modern man in his true self. Nature that once belonged to man now lies deep- buried in the human consciousness. Man, as a result of the dominance of reason and consciousness, stands withdrawn from the situation.

 

Aims and Objectives

1: The present research is an endeavour to investigate Hughes’ poetry from an ecocritical perspective which, as an eclectic field of inquiry combining environmental and literary studies, addresses the questions of global ecological imbalances and environmental degradation in the wake of reckless devastation of the natural resources for the materialistic aggrandizement of humans.

2: The aim of the present study is to show that Ted Hughes' poetry, when studied and analyzed wearing an ecocritical lens, demonstrates concern for the preservation of nature and its species which are in the danger of gradual extinction.  The emphasis is upon taking measures for the preservation of the environment so that man and nature may live in a symbiotic relationship with each other.

3: The objective of the study is to raise the mass awareness about environmental issues like global warming, eco degradation, and ecological imbalances that are posing a serious threat to the future of mankind, along with suggesting positive measures, in the light of ecocritical theoretical insights as well as Hughes’ poetic inspiration, to cope up with environmental issues.

Research Questions

1: What are the principles of ecocritical study, and how is the canon of ecocriticism different from traditional nature studies?

2: What features of Ted Hughes’ poetry characterize him as an ecocritical poet?

3: What concern for nature, environment, and eco degradation does Hughes’ poetry show?




Significance of Study

The present study, immersed as it is in the ecocritical theoretical insights, is significant in terms of pinpointing Hughes’ contribution to advocating the need to promote eco-friendly and symbiotic attitudes for ensuring what is termed as ecological balance. Ecocritical paradigm to literature that combines environmental and literary approaches to the phenomenon of the nature, environment, and non human creatures inhabiting the globe along with the human beings, addresses the global environmental issues, raising the world consciousness about the gravity of the ever-escalating menace of ecological imbalance with  the ideology to develop ecologically informed approaches to deal with the threats of eco-degradation by inculcating in the masses a sense to preserve the environment. 

Research Methodology

This research is qualitative research carried out within the frame work of ecocritical theory, poetry, and history. It is premised upon an explanatory and interpretative analysis of the chosen text. It is an interpretation of the many-sided arguments made by Ted Hughes, one of the finest postmodern nature and animal poet, whose poetry has epitomized many contemporary concerns regarding environmental ethics, in his collection of poems. The eco-critical discussion of the ideas is supported by textual evidence. As the research by its very qualitative nature, required intensive study of the text to figure out and collect relevant evidence to support my argument, I have deeply and analytically studied the text and marked the relevant poems and the portions. After many close readings and intensive study of the text, the relevant textual evidence was located, marked, and extracted.  After the extraction of the data, it was meticulously sorted out and carefully categorized. Finally, ecocritical ideas framed by the ecocritics as well as the historical development of the field have been discussed, and relevant ideas applied to the chosen poems to analyze the data to address my research questions. Finally, the detailed conclusions are drawn from the critical discussions.   

Background of the Study

Twenty-first century has witnessed unprecedented economic, industrial, mechanical, and technological growth that has, on one hand facilitated the human life on a global level beyond imagination and, on the other hand, created colossal environmental and ecological problems.  Whereas exemplary advancement in the various fields of life have brought about massive transformations in the material well-being of the people in the advanced Euro- American countries, while the third world and fourth countries are struggling for their survival in the face of large scale poverty,  devastating scourges, crippling financial conditions and host of other problems, the first world countries are mainly responsible for the fast depleting wealth of natural resources as they have created massive environmental problems generally for the whole humanity and particularly for the poor Asian and African nations by polluting the environment with toxic atomic wastes and other lethal ecodegrading experiments. Obsessed with the idea of conquering nature, which has its roots in the enlightenment ideologies of the nineteenth century, reason- led humans have taken a dangerous route to reach the pinnacle of worldly success: by defeating the environment around which, man believes, is his enemy so must be vanquished. This misdirected enthusiasm has resulted in the mindless devastation of the natural resources for the betterment of man, though ironically, what it has brought is not the peace and prosperity of human beings rather dangerous issues of life for the present and future generations.

To save human generations present and future of the overwhelming effects of such heedless pursuits of materiality, literature and environmental studies started a joint venture  now termed ecocritical studies whose professed aim is to create literature, both theoretical , realistic, and creative, that should inculcate in the masses a heightened awareness of the natural phenomenon and the environment around, in order to develop such attitudes as would help to preserve the environment and save the world from deterioration. Since the last decade of the twentieth century, there has been much fuss about the issues like globalization, global warming, climate changes, endangered species extinction, and the concern for the preservation of natural resources as the whole array of scientists, sociologists, social scientists, human observers, and different organizations diverted the attention of the global political lords towards the degradation of the environment and its dire consequences for the future generations.  Ecocriticism or environmental movements emerged, especially towards the beginning of the 1990's concurrently all over the world, and literature paid great attention to this epistemological shift and the writers, novelists, poets, playwrights, and theorists alike, produced works of seminal importance that played an instrumental role in the dissemination of a particular kind of ideology, the ideology that has gained colossal importance since then, especially in the twenty first century when other than declared atomic powers of the world, more countries are secretly engaged in producing atomic weapons and toxic gasses. The emission of such toxic material in the atmosphere is causing environmental degradation, so in these circumstances, the importance of promoting environmental ethics has increased manyfold. Literature is not immune to the effects of the growing campaign for making the world pollution-free, taking such viable measures that may help consolidate the pure environmental conditions.  




Historical Development of the Field

Literature and environment studies have been consistent for quite some time, as is evidenced by the most cited ecocritical collections. Just like waves of feminist theory in ecocriticism also, there are three waves that refer to the evolution of the ecoritical thought over time. First wave ecocritical scholarship focused on conflating nature with environmental studies; on literary transcriptions of the natural world in poetry, fiction, and faction as means of promoting lasting relationship with nature; on promoting ecocentric and biocentric ethics, conjoining the bond between nature and human beings. The romantic era of the late eighteenth century is remarkable in this regard as its poets laid stress upon forging a harmonious interaction with the world of nature; keep in close touch with nature because it is only through establishing strong link and developing symbiotic attitude towards natural world that lives on the globe can be made worth living. Romantic poets William Wordsworth, John Keats, Byron, and a long list of literary dignitaries sang songs of the soul-stirring and inspiring beauties of nature  that not only instil deep spiritual feelings in the hearts of the onlookers but also because this harmonious relationship between nature and man ensures the peaceful existence of the life of all sorts.  The continuation rather revival of this movement in the 1990s owes to the phenomenological work of Naess, the inventor of the ‘deep ecology’,  Bacherald,  Merleau Ponty, and Martin Heidegger influenced heavily the ethos of the movement and directed its way to the present dimensions. The second wave of ecocriticism, striking a note of difference from the nature individual orientation of the first wave movement, has rather more tilted towards environmental justice concerns focusing on the social aspects of the relationship rejecting the hopelessly vague and stigmatized relation with the nature. The difference between the two waves is in terms of the placement of focus: whereas the first wave was inclined to strengthen the spiritual bond between individual and nature, the second wave concerned itself particularly with the social criticism, with giving a new social orientation to the movement by placing emphasis on the social role of the literary texts. Ancillary commitments of the movement include shifting focus from place-attachment from local to transnational or global and the cross-pollination of literature-environment studies with postcolonial and ethnic minority literature issues that have led to the formation of new hybrid fields and specialized realms of inquiry. These ramifications of literature and environmental studies are not the only trends that have taken the two fields away from their original base in Anglophone literature.  At present ecocritical studies have imbibed influences beyond the Anglophonic world from the Native Americans, Afro-Americans, Hispanic, Germans, and Chinese.  Literature environment studies have not been impervious to the other influences and have sought in principle to encompass such genres as nature writing and nature poetry, but also much influential expressive media, including visual, musical, and cinematic as well as purely scholarly instruments like research articles, reports from the various non-governmental, independent organizations. 

The Making of Ecocritical Ted Hughes

Ted Hughes is the one finest nature poets of the century highly claimed for his treatment of nature, environment, animals, and symbiotic relationship between man and his environment. Animals and ecological concerns frequently appear in his poetry, and he shows a delicate and human concern for the non-human creatures and believes harmonious co-existence of humans and non-humans. Right from his childhood, he had a great fascination for animals. He had lived in close companionship with the world of nature and had observed the beauties as well as violence found in nature from very close quarters. Living with his parents in the Calder valley, he remained closely in touch with the animal world and developed a strong relationship with the non-human nature. His intimate company with the animals revealed to him that the animals were by and large the victim of violence, so he shows feelings of sympathy and concern for helpless animals. Yet, as Ted frequently illustrates in his poetry, the human world was irresistibly fascinated by the world of animals because it had pushed into the unconscious of the human mind what was still the part of animal consciousness, that is, vat, unused energies. 

Since his fascination with the animals was a vital part of his nature and poetry, he drew the basic inspiration for his poetry from the animal life. The experience of scrutinizing the habits and life patterns of the animals very closely helped Ted to use his observation about animals to draw some interesting conclusions about the shared natures of humans and animals. He very successfully uses the animals to portray themes of human interest. When we read the animal poems, we explicitly realise that the motive behind an animal poem is not to bring to over mind the life of the animal. Rather the point is driven whom symbolically and allegorically that the human beings are, in many ways very close to animal nature . For instance, in the poem “Jaguar” an animal of the cat family found mainly in America, Hughes intimately describes the extraordinary energy, quickness, ferocity, and agility of this animal. There are other animals as well in the zoo who are looking lethargic and deterred, weary of their existence, but the jaguar, with its quick movements and untapped energy, attract the attention of the onlookers, whereas all other animals are sick of the man-made environment in which they have become trapped, and found no way to express their instinct for violence and wildness, it is only the jaguar , a symbol of unrestrained energy and undiminished vitality, that paces around in the most fierce-looking mood with blood thumping violently in its head. For the jaguar, the cage is no prison, and it circles in this small universe with the energy of a wild thing, desperate and anxious to tear apart anything that comes it's the way. Far from feeling confined to a cage, away from its natural habitat, it roams about with an air of absolute freedom. Hughes compares its freedom in cage with the freedom of an idealistic revolutionary for whom a prison cell is no reason for confinement. The jaguar  balks at any restrictions or imprisonment and behaves with wild energy as if he were the master of everything, and temporary confinement to a cell would not strip him off of his natural energies.

Although there had been quite many poets who made nature poetry their province, Ted’s treatment of nature seems quite distinguished from all other Euro-American nature poets. What distinguishes Ted’s poetry from the other poets of the same genre is his profound understanding of animal nature and its relevance to understanding the human nature. Based upon his personal experiences with the animal kingdom and his vast interest in archaeology, history, anthropology, science, and humanities, his poems show a remarkable variety of animal poetry and are enriched with unique poetics, symbolism, and imagery drawn from the animal world. He envisioned a perfect union and sympathetic interaction with the animal and the non-human world for such a peaceful resistance seems necessary for the helpful environment in the world which is facing the danger of extreme forms of pollution and extinction of rare animals. In order to cope with the environmental hazards facing the living things inhabiting the globe, Hughes sees the necessity of promoting an eco-friendly understanding to ensure a better future and present of humanity. His nature poetry, therefore, strikes a sure note of the need for a semiotic relationship if the man has to perpetuate his existence in a congenial environment. Nature in its various forms first appeared in the poetry of romantic poets – Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, J. Keats, and Shelly- who expressed deep reverence and love for a different aspect of nature. Wordsworth not only adored the objects of nature and found in nature a motherly impulse, a deity who inspires its followers with deep feelings of peace, serenity, and spiritualism, he believed there ran a common spirit among all the objects of nature, giving nature a unified impression raising it to a divine status. Every single flower, cliff, plain, greenfield, and humming of the birds were thought to be the expression of the existence of one supreme power that dwells in natural phenomena. Opening one’s heart to the beauties of nature, imbibing its deeply spiritual essence that instils in the mind of the devotee's rare serenity calmness, Wordsworth preached the people to forge a unbreakable bond with the mother nature, for only this way they can shield themselves from the overwhelming care of life. Shelly, in a different vein, philosophized and intellectualized nature and read in the various form of nature a gospel of optimism. He also believed that nature changed its mood and colours and brought both destruction and happiness for mankind, but there was a need to realize the intellectual inspiration that nature held for its lovers. Keats, on the other hand, had pure love for nature and its many sites of beauty. He perceived nature more from an aesthetic perspective and found in it a quality that could move the heart of the worshipers of natural beauty in ways that are usually associated with romantic love. He loved the beauty of nature for its own sake and found, towards the mature part of his career, that nature with its inexhaustible sources of delight is a joy forever. 

Analysis of Poems

Ted Hughes, one of the major poets of English nature tradition whose reputation rests chiefly on his nature and animal poems in which violence surfaces as motif of all human and animal life, offers a wide range of themes and style in his prolific poetry that mostly deals with issues like the presence of violence and aggression, nature and the environmental degradation, philosophical pondering over the future of mankind. Part of his poetic genius belongs to the same tradition of nature poetry that was popularized by the nineteenth-century poets. However, he strikes a note of difference from them by incorporating in his ecocritical poetry both Wordsworthian and Tennysonian traditions, thus, establishing a new tradition in consonance with the environmental protection of the twentieth century that started a massive campaign to persuade the world political and social organizations to take drastic steps towards eliminating pollution causing factors, and helping the protection and continuation of the animal, human, aquatic and plant life on the face of the earth.

The way he did, it was to write animal poems in which he elucidated the animal instincts and behaviours.  In these animal poems, symbolic and allegorical, he has projected the dark forces of human consciousness through the animals, the forces that surface up vehemently despite the modern civilization's ceaseless efforts to curb it, though these elemental forces are too strong to be suppressed. Modernistic dichotomy or binarism between animal and human, instinctive and rational, high and low, wild and urban, etc. finds expression in his poetry and gets postmodern treatment when he consciously blurs the boundaries between human and non human, and strikes out the typically western prioritizing of the rationale associated with human and irrational or instinctive, associated with the animalistic, and foregrounds a more biocentric approach to the man-nature binary. Convinced of the common grounds of origin of the human and non human life, more after the views of the primitive, non scientific societies of the world which still practice their ancient beliefs, he dissolves the iron curtains between rational and scientific that characterize the civilization and the primitive dark forces of shamanism, of dreams and wildness that symbolise the irrepressible primitiveness of human consciousness. In Freudian manner, he is convinced that subconscious energies cannot be suppressed by rational ways of modern civilization; therefore, if the elemental energies are not channelized to other useful directions, they come up strongly in other violent forms like dreams, or twisted human relations, and create psychological problems. Many of his poems like “Ghost Crab” are designed to enunciate these psychological dimensions of human nature, since he believes a poem epitomises the intensity of unconscious energies and their influence on the human behaviours.  His animal poems like Jaguar; Pike; Hawk Roosting; View of a Pig, Esther's Tomcat; Cat and Mouse, etc, are poems that show Hughes' reflections over the cruelty, violence, animal behaviours.

M.L.Rosenthal in his influential book New Poets: American and British Poetry since World War Two, claims that the most important single figure to emerge from the postmodern British poetry since world war two is Ted Hughes, despite the fact that the total volume of his published work remains small. He was not one of the prolific writers and produced work spasmodically; however, whatever he produced was meticulously done. A major part of his serious work was published in periodical journals and two widely anthologized books: The Hawk in the Rain (1957) and Lupercal (1960). Even in these seminal works, the poems that bear his signatory characteristics and stand out through exceptional fierce power of description and concentrated details of the instinctual elements expressed in human and animal actions are quite a few. His first work, published when he was 27, is marked with the potentiality or marginality of the forcefulness of genius that was to achieve its full impact in the subsequent work, but, absolutely no denying the fact that the unique forcefulness of genius and style that distinguished him from the rest of the contemporaries had thrust right from the beginning of his poetic character. What is obviously the trademark of his poetry is the authority and sheer visionary power in conceptualizing the object under poetic review, and hence, irrespective of the successful execution of the poem or the deep mark that the poem may fail to leave, the concentrated impression of the conception it leaves upon the reader is compelling. In the poems like 'Vampire,' a weird piece of buffoonery, or 'The Secretary', a half witty, half pitying piece, the thrust is compellingly concentrated, and the conception is lucid.

Ted is of the view that man has insulated himself against nature and cut off from nature due to his modern attitude. This modern attitude is the fruit of his wisdom, intellectualism, empiricism, rationality, materialist mindset, and mechanical outlook. As the man restores his link with his Mother Nature origin and ultimately he becomes a part of it to construct a "whole". Man is also away from his instinctual sources of power, which nature itself still retains in it. Man has lost the vitality, force, and spiritual strength which are still empowered by nature: “a spirit beacon lit by the power of the salmon.”This possession of man can be obtained again if he establishes the harmony with nature but man’s dictatorial approach is a hindrance in this way. 

Two of Ted’s best-known collection: The Hawk in the Rain and Lupercal, are informed by his profound interest in the animal world. The title of the first collection clearly illustrates Ted Hughes' philosophy of human life in relation to the world of nature around: Mans' many-sided relation to the animals, the earth, the environment, space and time, death and mortality. There are a number of poems which establish a nexus between man and his environment, which is the abode of numberless animals and birds. “The Horses” is a fine nature poem that depicts the poet’s view of the patience and endurance demonstrated by the horses during the cold winter night. The horses pose human characteristics and are shown to endure the pain with an admirable sense of patience. Instead of showing panic or feeling desperate in the nipping cold of the wintery night, the horses win the sympathies of the human reader with their enduring patience. Ted Hughes names many of his poems after the animals, thus very clearly suggesting an inextricable link with and attraction for the animals who impress the poet with an enormous range of fascinating characteristics. Since animals share some features of their life with human life, Hughes makes a comparative study of both human and non-human creatures and draws some interesting conclusions. He identifies that animals do share with human beings a certain kind of tendency for violence. His stay with the animals made him see that the animal and human beings are, in their fundamental behavioural patterns, motivated by violence in order to survive. He uses animals as imagery to refer to a variety of human passions, even the act of inspiration for writing poetry, for example in the poem "Thought Fox," which is apparently a poem about the process of poetic creation, that how a poet passes through different phases to complete a poem, he uses fox as the central symbol for the composition a poem. On the first look, the idea of fox as the symbol of poetic creation may strike weird, but Ted Hughes develops the theme of the poem so beautifully through the central imager of a fox that the body and later on the subtle movements of the fox help him draw a parallel between the appearance of the fox into light from the darkness and the emergence of a poetical idea from the darkness of the mind. 

Anthropocentrism “assumes the primacy of humans, who either sentimentalize or dominate the environment” (Martin 217-218 quoted in Chen). This anthropocentric attitude is explicit in the next part of this poem, “That Morning”, when “two gold bears came down," the stream very close to the poet and swimming and diving like children. They stood in deep water “as on a throne eating pierced salmons off their talon”. Here man’s actual outlook is revealed that he (bears) wants to hold the nature as he were the master of the elemental force of non-human life and he even pierces the nature (salmon) with their talons (empirical knowledge), and he is in the "fallen world and salmons were over”. He almost reached "their formation lifting us towards some dazzled of blessing," but by creating violence he "had let the world of salmons pass away”.  Hughes in the end vehemently rejects this idea of brutality over non human nature. This idea can be better understood in terms of binary opposites, colonizer/ colonized, powerful/powerless, man/ woman, man/animal, good/evil; when one is exploiter and the other is exploited. Ted Hughes is against the “otherness” of nature and this attitude is not welcomed by the nature and it is no more benevolent, teacher, healer and nurse perceived by Wordsworth but become malevolent and demoniac as a reaction against man’s ambition of empowering the nature.

This reaction of nature is evident in “jaguar”. Jaguar is not a safeguarding spirit but a powerful nature spirit itself. This nature spirit (jaguar) is encaged and imprisoned by man and is destined to friendless detention for being non-human. Man has shown his mastery over non -human species of this universe by misinterpreting the idea that "he is the crown of the creation". He cannot be the crown of the creation by producing violence, bloodshed, dictatorship and authority and he has to change the mindset towards other non human elements in order to protect the humanity as well as nature. Jaguar is a fine example of anthropocentric attitude of man and its consequences.

 “Full Moon and Little Frieda” reflects the friendly relationship between man and nature. Little Frieda (man) is surrounded by non-human elements of nature and fascinated by the charms of “cool small evening shrunk to a bark dog and clank of bucket”. She is corresponding to these sounds. Here the use of the word "listening" is considerable; the poet could have used the word "hear". The theory of cause and effect is applicable here. The web is tense for dew's touch.  One element of nature is affecting the other; "A pail lifted, still and brimming – mirror/To tempt a first star to a tremor." The first star that is sign of night is reflected in the water; both water and star become one and tremor together.

The nature keeps on changing figures from “cow” to “many boulders”; the poet’s observation is very crafty that is wandering from image to image. The lane of cow is giving the impression as “A dark river of blood, many boulders balancing unspilled milk." The relationship between man and the nature is accomplished in the last lines when Frieda gazes at the moon, and under the influence of the magical power of nature (moon), she can't help crying, "'Moon!' you cry suddenly, 'Moon! Moon!" The moon like an artist looks fixedly atman (Frieda) who pointed at him amazedly.  It is moon's presence which endows colouring in the world of man; otherwise his world is colourless and dark. Moon (nature) becomes the creator of the whole scene that serves as a replica of the whole universe. Thus man and nature rely on each other and are unable to exist or survive without each other and they are constituents of this universe to make it a “whole”. 

Thus as "ecocriticism” takes an earth-centered approach to literary studies” (Glotfelty xviii), our environment including non-human life is seriously facing a crisis due to our insensitivity and is getting endangered. Man needs to change his perspective and should understand the significance of nature as when anything is molded, reshaped or reconstructed, it cannot be called “natural” any more. Hughes’ shares Shakespeare’s conception of the relationship between man and nature that “One Touch of Nature Makes the Whole World Kin” (Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Scene iii).     

Conclusion

Hughes’ poems, immensely varied and interesting in thematic-stylistic dimensions, portray a unique world of nature, beauty, eco-driven conceptualizing of the universe, and intimate concern for the preservation of all forms of life, human, vegetative and marine and animal. His poems, though broadly redolent of past nature poets of the romantic era, stand out as monumental conceptualizations of the nature of Nature and its myriad interactions with the human beings. His method of translating his concepts into poetic form incorporates a broad range of stylistic trends of which imagery, piercing and revelatory in its expository potential, transcends hackneyed impressions and trite usages,  opening novel avenues that takes the reader into a world of  familiar, though previously trivialized, phenomenon.  His enormous power of words along with sharp observations of the  world around makes him one of the finest poets of the English literature of the postmodern world which has obliterated the boundaries between the high and the low, between centre and margin, privileged and suppressed, and by implication between so-called enlightenment and irrational elements and has illuminated, (though ,paradoxically , it defies the philosophy of prioritizing or foregrounding one reality to the suppression of the other, because generally it exposes the hegemonic ways the discourses have been used to manipulate domination in the field of ideology) the ways into new and libratory patterns of thinking that lead to coexistence 

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