hey what's up guys and welcome back to igcse success your one-stop shop for everything i gcse english and my first video on this channel looking specifically at the literature course and in today's video i am going to be looking at the poem wind by ted hughes published in 1957 and this of course will be the first video of 15 because there are 15 poems that you need to know inside out do it you can you can do it you can so in this video i am going to be breaking down the entire poem looking at the language the structure the theme the tone all of the juicy bits and everything you guys need to know to succeed with your poetry and prose exam and with all that said and done let's get on with today's video so what is wind essentially about so if we're just looking at the surface meaning of the poem wind depicts the sheer ferocity of the wind or the storm and its unwavering mission to wreak havoc on the landscape and a very vulnerable fragile house and this wind is harsh unforgiving brutal and it seems like it will do anything to uproot this house with people inside [Music] however like all good poems the wind of course is a metaphor a symbol a vehicle to express a number of themes and ideas you didn't just think it was a poem about wind right the natural world can be a scary thing violent brutal destructive and often when we least expect it and well when faced with such immeasurable and terrifying power we are invariably left in a very precarious and futile position often hoping for the best oh and of course there's conflict internal conflict of sorts towards the latter part of the poem and whilst the wind is battering this poor house i guess hughes way of warning people not to allow arguments to escalate to such an extent that you forget to do the sensible thing like trying to save your life so um pretty bleak and miserable ready to unpick the language let's go oh my goodness before i start the second part of the video the you know the important bit i have gone down every avenue trying to think of the best way to film this section i started with the idea of annotating live with my tablet i was recording the screen while simultaneously recording the audio separately i think i was using audacity so a separate program and then i realized that a my handwriting is terribly messy and b i just had trouble trying to sync everything together and uh i was slowly sinking i then tried the traditional powerpoint route and i just found there wasn't enough space to write what i wanted and yes at this point i was close to giving up it is a sunday you know day off rest but alas google docs to the rescue and i completely forgot that it's so much easier to annotate and add notes so do let me know what you think enough waffling let's take a read of the poem ted shoes wind this house has been far out at sea all night the woods crashing through darkness the booming hills winds stampeding the fields under the window floundering blacker stride and blinding wet till they rose then under an orange sky the hills had new places and wind wielded bladelight luminous black and emerald flexing like the lens of a mad eye at noon i scaled along the house as far as the courthouse door once i looked up through the brunt wind that dented the balls of my eyes the tent of the hills drummed and strained its guy rope the fields quivering the skyline of grimace had any second to bang and vanish with a flap the wind flung a magpie away and a black back goal bent like an iron bar slowly the house rang like some fine green goblet in the note that any second would shatter it now deep in chairs in front of a great fire we grip our hearts and cannot entertain book thought or each other we watch the fire blazing and feel the roots of the house move but sit on seeing the window tremble to come in hearing the stones cry out under the horizon so we have to start by looking at that striking opening metaphor this house has been far out at sea all night and this very much is a conscious choice and when we talk about structure we need to think about how the poet or writer has organized their ideas so if you're wanting those top marks you have to think about how a poem begins and how it progresses and how it ends and with this opening the metaphor is very much reminiscent of a ship struggling to navigate stormy waters now this house uh initially is very much the center of the action it's in a precarious or dangerous situation it's unstable and this man-made structure really is no match for this ferocious storm that seems to be brewing outside it's wreaking havoc on the landscape it's distorting the landscape this is just a sign of things to come and this metaphor is very much emphasizing the house's fragility vulnerability and isolation think about a ship navigating these stormy waters it's helpless it's got no one to turn to and of course the storm the wind it's inescapable it's everywhere and mankind if you wanted to bring in some sort of discussion about a central theme you can look at how mankind is futile insignificant powerless when facing such a terrifying ravaging storm a brilliant opening metaphor it's chilling it's foreboding it's ominous i love it now the second line the woods crashing through darkness and booming hills of course we've got auditory imagery here or onomatopoeia here we've got all of the elements coming together we've got rain we've got wind we've got thunder so not only is this scene visually threatening and terrifying but also orally the sounds are absolutely terrifying and of course there's this real sense of the landscape being brutally attacked by the wind by the storm there's this immeasurable power that the wind has and it only has one goal and of course that goal is to cause as much destruction as possible there's absolutely no hope for the landscape or house and of course there's his sense of foreboding from the onset what i said before was this is just a sign of things to come there's this real sense that the intensity the ferocity of the wind is only going to intensify as the poem progresses now looking at the third line winds stampeding the fields under the window so you've got this brilliant verb here very very interesting very very evocative very unusual as well and it seems to zoomorfies the wind likening its behavior to a chaotic disorientated herd of animals and you would expect that with all of this chaos all of this destruction unfolding outside and of course it's very much on its an explicit level um referring to the wind's velocity the speed it's so strong that at this point the windows are rattling the wind is battering against the glass of course glass is fragile we're thinking as a reader how long will these windows last and what i find quite interesting as a kind of structural choice that hughes has made is that there's this sense macabre sense this sinister sense of the the storm almost playing with the house at this point and the people inside they're tormenting of the storm is tormenting them this is maybe a warning of sorts and again for the third time linking back to what i said before this is just a sign of things to come and we fully anticipate the storm to worsen as the poem progresses then we've got this word floundering which usually denotes a sense of struggle so perhaps this is referring to the house itself and it's unstable fragile position followed by black astride and blinding wet now of course this is uh relating to the storm outside all of the elements working together to create this terrifying atmosphere it's almost as if the the storm has enveloped the house there's no escape we've got that word a stride there it's the elements are covering the entire house things are only going to get worse and another thing that you could explore are these sounds that hughes chooses to use we've got that fricative alliteration with the f sound floundering field it just sounds really unpleasant and we've got the plosive bees as well black blinding with the emphasis on that b sound of course this is emphasizing the sheer power of the storm but also the sounds are unbearable almost painful to listen to and then we've got the blinding weight you've got that adjective blinding it's difficult to see anything other than the destruction that is happening as a result of the storm then you've got this really effective use of enjoyment after the blinding wet so blinding wet continues on to the following line there's this sense that the horror and destructive nature of the storm isn't going to stop any time soon so moving on to stanza one we've got this time marker here and i think this stanza is really really interesting for several reasons so this time marker we are almost lowered into a full sense of security we are thinking hmm and indeed the speaker is everything safe now and of course we've got the orange sky so this color imagery we've got the vibrant shoes it's soft it's inviting it's welcoming but of course it's anything but perhaps this is the storm i put here beguiling the people in the house manipulating them trying to get them to believe that everything is okay the hills had new places so the sheer power of the wind has somehow distorted destroyed the hills destroyed the landscape and we can really visualize debris strewn everywhere there's a real sense of the utter devastation and destruction caused nothing is safe the house isn't safe the landscape isn't safe and certainly the people inside that house are not safe we've got a really interesting line that follows wind wielded blade light we've got the alliteration there so we can really sort of sense that harsh whipping sound coming from the wind and an interesting verb choice um in wielded perhaps this is suggesting or trying to create an image of this glow piercing through the clouds like a nice slicing into something whatever the case it is certainly a threatening image what follows is further use of color imagery but also perhaps this is a metaphor for an eye maybe the eye of the storm are we dealing with some malevolent force here something almost supernatural is this thing this being this entity watching waiting getting ready to unleash its fury once again then stanza 2 ends with another striking unusual simile and this very much creates a sense of chaos disorder and destruction like the lens of a mad eye this storm is completely unpredictable this storm is far from over and it's certainly not going to hold back now stanza 3 opens with a very interesting verb scaled what do you think of when you hear that verb scaled okay certainly an interesting verb choice uh here we've got the speaker braving the storm he has decided to get call from the cool house uh we assumed to keep the fire going of course this is very much emphasizing how dangerous the storm is and how dangerous it is to be outside braving the elements just going outside just making that journey requires an immense effort it again brings the power of the wind to the forefront again and it's almost like the speaker at this point is having to scale a mountain he's clinging on for dear life then line three through the brunt wind that dented the balls of my eyes so a very powerful verb dented a hyperbolic image i guess but now the wind has intensified okay it's now causing physical harm discomfort and this is something that you would want to mention to get those marks for structure and perhaps you could discuss the theme of mankind versus the natural world at this point the tent of the hills drummed and strained its sky ropes are another striking metaphor here likening the hills to man-made structures or tense they are weak flimsy and vulnerable and certainly no match for the unrelenting wind at this point the wind has the power or even has distorted destroyed parts of the landscape moving on to stanza 4 we've got lots of personification here so the fields are quivering we've got that verb quivering he's well shoes sorry is very much personifying the landscape it's in total fit almost as if it's being tortured and even the skyline is grimacing so it's it's making this sort of ugly contorted twisted expression there's almost this sense of pain so even the fields the sky the landscape nothing is safe at any second to bang and vanish with a flap these onomatopoeic words here or monosyllabic words the landscape is in this very futile and hopeless position it cannot do anything there's a sense that the inevitable is going to happen and i guess that is complete destruction to to the point where it cannot recover moving on we've got some very vivid jarring almost grotesque imagery the wind flung a magpie away and a black back gull bent like an iron bar slowly again you've got those plosive bees black back gull bent bar it's almost uncomfortable to say those violent verbs flung and bent you've got this very unusual simile it's very harrowing it's very graphic and notice stanza fall the wind as expected has intensified and now it's moved on to taking lives who is next hmm i wonder and also notice that adverb slowly this is not a quick death it's slow it's barbaric there's again linking back to what we said earlier on it's like the storm is putting on this very macabre this wicked this sinister show it's absolutely terrifying then we've got the house with this really effective use of enjoyment again we can as a reader predict exactly what is going to happen next and of course the house is at the forefront here the house is the focus the storm is ready to move on to its next victim and that of course is the house and the people inside so absolutely terrifying at this point so the house rang like some fine green goblet in the note that any second would shatter it so we've got another striking simile here of course emphasizing the fragility of the house this time it's a bit more explicit and referring to the right singing note having the power to shatter it at any moment now deep in chairs in front of the great fire we grip our hearts and cannot entertain book thought or each other this is where it gets really juicy guys lots to one pick here as i've put here first of all notice how there is a switch to present tense creating a real sense of immediacy of course as readers we are thinking gosh what is going to happen to the people inside the house what are they going to do how are they going to save their lives um perhaps we are expecting this really heart-wrenching moment they're going to turn to each other for comfort for solace of course this is great fire that has been lit this perhaps connotes a sense of warmth and comfort however this scene sets us up for another central theme and that's internal conflict the people in this poem cannot distract themselves they can't read they can't speak to each other they can't reason they can't think about what to do next and they cannot stand each other what is going on so here is the unexpected turn that i guess we've been waiting for and lots of students neglect this part or they don't comment on it and it's really really key to the poem tension has been mounted throughout this poem and this is almost the climax if you like the tension or internal conflict between the people inside the turbulence very much matches or mirrors the storm and turbulence outside and perhaps this would be the perfect opportunity to liken the storm or explore the storm as a metaphor for their broken down relationship so in the penultimate stanza we've got an image of a great fire now the fire is blazing and the connotations are symbolic meaning perhaps becomes a little bit clearer is it in actual fact representing danger destruction of their relationship rather than connoting a sense of warmth comfort etc and feel the roots of the house move maybe this is again another metaphor on an explicit layer of course this is referring to the foundations of the house shaking it hasn't got much time left before i guess it's reduced to a pile of rubble but peeling back those layers is this a metaphor for the demise of their relationship there's no coming back from whatever conflict has been going on but sit on why are they being so passive why are these people not discussing what to do next what steps they need to take have they given up have they decided on their own fate which i guess is death pretty bleak seeing the window tremble to come in some more brilliant personification you've got that verb tremble even the windows are fearful at this point they know soon that the wind will shatter them it's only a matter of time and the last line bleak as you would expect hearing the stones cry out under the horizons okay there's this real sense of desperation no hope for anyone or anything is this the end i think so and there you have it guys a full rundown of ted hughes's poem wind do let me know if you want more lit content and let me know in the comments below what is your favorite ted hughes poem until next time bye bye oh and don't 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