Detailed commentary and analysis by Claire's Notes of 'Football at Slack' by Ted Hughes.
Cambridge iGCSE: Ted Hughes
"Football at Slack" by Ted Hughes depicts a group of young men playing football in a rugged, rural setting. The poem captures the raw energy and unrestrained joy of the game, contrasting the players' lively movements with the harsh, bleak environment. Themes of youthful exuberance, the contrast between innocence and the starkness of nature, and the resilience of the human spirit are central. Hughes' vivid imagery and dynamic language convey the sense of vitality and freedom experienced by the men. The poem reflects on how the simple act of playing football becomes a powerful expression of life and defiance against the austere landscape.
Football at Slack by Ted Hughes
Between plunging valleys, on a bareback of hill
Men in bunting colours
Bounced, and their blown ball bounced.
The blown ball jumped, and the merry-coloured men
Spouted like water to head it.
The ball blew away downwind -
The rubbery men bounced after it.
The ball jumped up and out and hung in the wind
Over a gulf of treetops.
Then they all shouted together, and the blown ball blew back.
Winds from fiery holes in heaven
Piled the hills darkening around them
To awe them. The glare light
Mixed its mad oils and threw glooms.
Then the rain lowered a steel press.
Hair plastered, they all just trod water
To puddle glitter. And their shouts bobbed up
Coming fine and thin, washed and happy
While the humped world sank foundering
And the valleys blued unthinkable
Under the depth of Atlantic depression -
But the wingers leapt, they bicycled in air
And the goalie flew horizontal
And once again a golden holocaust
Lifted the cloud’s edge, to watch them.
My poetry videos all have the same structure: I start by putting the poem into its historical and biographical context where this enhances its understanding and give a short summary of the poem itself; I then look at the poem in its entirety, picking out structural features, such as metre (rhythm), any rhyming and patterns in language which the poet uses; I finish by going through the poem on a line-by-line basis, giving definitions of words and offering an interpretation of the poet’s words with justification. Most of the terminology I use (in green) is provided with a definition below, so even if you haven’t come across it before, you should still be able to understand the points I am making.
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I have been an English teacher and private tutor for more than 20 years.
Please note that any literature analysis is highly subjective and may disagree with analysis by another person. All interpretations are valid if they can be justified by reference to the text. This interpretation is my own: it is not exhaustive and there are alternatives!
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