THE STAG

THE STAG
TED HUGHES
While the rain fell on the November woodland shoulder of Exmoor

While the traffic-jam along the road honked and shouted
Because the farmers were parking wherever they could
And scrambling to the bank-top to stare through the tree-fringe
Which was leafless,
The stag ran through the private forest.
The setting is November, it is raining in a small town of Exmoor. Everyone is very excited-
shouting and honking. They are all running around and standing at the top of the bank to look
at the view. In November there will barely be any greenery. The people here were causing
traffic jams and the stag is going about his own business.
While the rain drummed on the roofs of the parked cars

And the kids inside cried and daubed their chocolate and fought
And mothers and aunts and grandmothers
Were a tangle of undoing sandwiches and screwed-round gossiping heads
Steaming up the windows,
The stag loped through his favourite valley.
The rain falls on the rooftop, ‘drummed’- creating powerful sound. The children cried,
mothers and aunts were busy eating their sandwiches and gossiping. The stay runs around
with long strides through his favourite valley. Nothing has happened so far.
While the blue horseman down in the boggy meadow

Sodden nearly black, on sodden horses,
Spaced as at a military parade,
Moved a few paces to the right and a few to the left and felt rather foolish
Looking at the brown impassable river,
The stag came over the last hill of Exmoor.
Meanwhile the hunters are drenched in rain and are moving on the marshy grasslands with
their horses, simile- compares these hunters to a military parade (power). When these men
have to go and hunt they have to cross the river bank, they feel rather foolish because it is
difficult for them to cross this river- everything is wet- sodden(saturated with wet mud)- it is
very difficult to walk. They keep moving to the left and right, at this point in time the river is
swollen. At the same time the stag finds himself at the last hill of Exmoor.
While everybody high-kneed it to the bank top all along the road
Where steady men in oilskins were stationed with binocular,
And the horsemen by the river galloping anxiously this way and that
And the cry of hounds cam tumbling invisibly with their echoes down through the draggle of
trees,
Swinging across the wall of dark woodland,
The stag dropped in to a strange country.
Since the mud is very wet it is difficult for them to walk at a normal pace. They have begun
to position themselves- the hunt is approaching. To get a clear and crisp view they have
binoculars with them. the moment the stag had come to the last hill, he finds himself in a
strange country- place where he will not be safe like he was in his private, favourite areas.
While the men by the road are looking through their binoculars, horseman ready to hunt the
stag, cries of adrenaline and excitement. They can now view the stag, they are ready for the
hunt.
And turned at the river

Hearing the hound-pack smash the undergrowth, hearing the bell-note
Of the voice carried all others,
Then while the limbs all cried different directions to his lungs, which only wanted to rest,
The blue horsemen on the bank opposite
Pulled aside the camouflage of their terrible planet.
He has come next to the river and he swims across as fast as he can to get away from the
hunters. He hears the aggression of the hounds and is scared and desperate to escape. ‘limbs
all cry’- personification. The stag is swimming but his limbs are so tired, he is exhausted and
could barely breath. But the hunters are very near and are ready to kill it. ‘pulled aside the
camouflage of their terrible planet’- exposing the true barbaric nature of mankind. The
hunters and the hounds close in on the poor animal- cruel
And the stag doubled back weeping and looking for home up a valley and down a valley
While the strange trees struck him and the brambles lashed him,
And the strange earth came galloping after him carrying the loll-tongued hounds to fling all
over him
And his heart became just a club beating his ribs and his own hooves shouted with hounds
voices,
And the crowd on the road got back into their cars
Wet-through and disappeared.
The poor stag is weeping, he knows he can’t escape so he is looking for a safe abode, but this
forest is unknown to him ‘strange trees’ . he sprints as fast as he can through the trees even
though they are lashing at him. ‘strange earth’- at this point its strange because animals(the
hounds) are after hm, the creatures of this earth are running after him. The are chasing him
with a lot of anger and rage. He is so scared- his body seems to be betraying him, he ran so
fast his hooves sounded like the barking of the hounds. The crowd then disappears- open
ended, the hunt ends in disappointed- either the stag got away or they saw the slaughter and
felt regretful. The hunt led to disappointment whether it was successful or unsuccessful.
Contrast on how man’s nature is considerably inferior to that of animals. The panic of the
stag is understood in the last 2 stanzas and it is up to the readers to decide how it ends.
Ted Hughes
A hunt without a purpose, how it becomes a form of entertainment. Exmoor is a small
countryside in Britain which is known for this aristocratic sport. The setting is November, it
is raining, jam in the countryside- unusual things, preparing the reader for something unusual.
6 stanzas, free verse, no rhythms, last line about the stag. It is only in the 3rd-4th stanza that
the stag loses his way and finds himself in a strange country- he doesn’t understand how even
gods creations- hounds and humans can act in such a barbaric cruel way.

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While the rain fell on the November woodland shoulder of Exmoor

While the rain drummed on the roofs of the parked cars

While the blue horseman down in the boggy meadow

And turned at the river

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