English literature and linguistics with ASMA SHEIKH

ted hughes
some literary devices used in Full moon and little Frieda
Some literary devices are :-
1. Line one contains a metaphor comparing the evening to the sound of a dog's bark or clank of a bucket.
2. "The moon has stepped back like an artist..." is a simile.
3. Star's tremor and cows going home are examples of personification.
4. Alliteration and assonance is used throughout the poem, particularly the repitition of w, l, and the "t" sound.
5. Of course, imagery is present. It is very strong to the reader in the description of the spider web and the moon gazing amazed
Ted Hughes' poem "Full Moon and Little Freida" is about his young daughter (by Sylvia Plath).
The poem uses lovely imagery to convey an evening, after dark, where father and child gaze at the landscape and sky.
The first line speaks to us of the time of night; using sensory details that appeal to the ear, Hughes recognizes the sounds of a dog's bark and the clanking of a bucket.
Hughes speaks directly to Freida, noting that she, though very small, is listening just as he is. The two lines below end with periods: separate sentences, but possibly one thought. One wonders, does he mean to list two things he observes, or is he comparing his listening child to the delicate beauty of a gossamer web, waiting to be touched by the gentle dew, just as she is listening and learning, which is, likewise, a lovely image for him to behold?
And you listening.
A spider’s web, tense for the dew’s touch.
Hughes observes a newly filled pail from milking, using a metaphor to describe that the sky's image in the mirror, created by the milk's reflection. The "tremor" here may refer to the unsteady hand holding the bucket, making the image move.
A pail lifted, still and brimming – mirror
To tempt a first star to a tremor.
Hughes' imagery goes on to describe the cows meandering home, their breath circling in the air around them; it may be that the contents of a nearby pond or lake looks like blood around the animals, and the "unspilled" milk may refer to the pail Hughes and his daughter carry as they watch.
Or perhaps Hughes is saying that as the cows move in the darkness, they look like boulders in a river of blood; "Balancing unspilled milk" simply may observe that the cows have not yet been milked.
The turning point of the poem, and perhaps the most important section in Hughes' imagery so far, occurs with the lines:
“Moon!” you cry suddenly, “Moon! Moon!”
The moon has stepped back like an artist gazing amazed at a work
That points at him amazed.
Here the author notes not only the child's delight at perceiving the moon in the sky, but with personification, reports that the moon looks down at Freida, equally amazed by her; Hughes uses a simile to describe the moon's "behavior:"
like an artist gazing amazed at a work
The last line ("That points at him amazed") gives us the sense of the M.C. Escher's picture entitled, "Drawing Hands" (1948), where one cannot tell which hand starting drawing the other, first.
As Freida is in awe of the moon, the moon is also in awe of her, considering the child a work of art.
In this poem, Hughes forever captures not just a moment shared with his daughter, but the beauty and enchantment of nature as simply a reflection of the beauty and enchantment of his child, awakening to the world around her.
The poetic speaker is speaking from a third person point of view while describing the world surrounding Little Frieda as she goes out to fetch water on an early, though dark, winter's night. (It must be early night because the cows are just now returning home to be milked and because the water-mirror tempts a "first star" to a tremor; it must be winter because only winter has early dark nights). The speaker describes the dark night in terms of sounds, minute sights, and water in a bucket. Then the speaker describes the cows breath; their physical might ("dark river ... many boulders"); the milk "unspilled" in their udders. Then Frieda sees the moon, and the speaker describes the moon in terms of a personification in which the moon sees Little Frieda with equal wonder, awe, and delight.
The only aspect of "childhood relationships" that is apparent within the text is the loosely suggested relationship between Frieda and the bits of nature near her and surrounding her in the cosmos (e.g., dog, spider web, water, first star, moon). The most significant relationship that is suggested is that of wonder and awe between Little Frieda and the moon, which is reciprocated through personification between the moon and Little Frieda. The speaker is completely unidentified, except by tone, which is one of tender admiration, and so might be any loving individual with whom Frieda has a relationship; an omniscient impersonal speaker who is narrating from afar; a nearby observer who may be known or unknown to Frieda. Consequently, there are no significant indicators of "the importance of childhood relationships in 'Full Moon and Little Frieda'," except for the one indicator of the awe-filled joy she experiences when she finds herself unexpectedly face to face with the Moon, which was equally delighted with her through personification