Moon-Wind
by Ted Hughes
The Poem:
"There is no wind on the moon at all
Yet things get blown about.
In utter, utter stillness
Your candles shivers out.
In utter stillness
A giant marquee
Booms and flounders past you
Like a swan at sea.
In utter, utter stillness
While you stand in the street
A squall of hens and cabbages
Knocks you off your feet.
In utter, utter stillness
While you stand agog
A tearing twisting sheet of pond
Clouts you with a frog.
A camp of caravans suddenly
Squawks and takes off.
A Ferris wheel bounds along the skyline
Like a somersaulting giraffe.
Roots and foundations, nails and screws,
Nothing can hold fast,
Nothing can resist the moon's
Dead-still blast."
The Summary of the Poem:
In this poem, the poet provides us with a very strange picture of the wind that he imagines to be present on the moon. He points out that the strange wind seems to be howling all over the moon's surface but it is doing so in 'utter stillness'.
We come across very unusual things as we go on reading the poem. Candle shivers out due to the imaginary wind. A giant drifts away in the wind. He booms and flounders and pass like the swans at a sea. Gust of hens and cabbages knocks someone off his feet. A tearing twisting sheet of pond smacks with a frog.
A camp of caravans screech and takes off. A Ferris wheel swings backward and forward along the skyline like a giraffe. Nothing can hold tight because of the fictitious wind. Roots and foundations, nails and screws get loosened. The blasts in the moon goes on without any sign to stop.
COMPREHENSION
1. Answer the following questions.
a. How do things get blown about on the moon if there is no wind?
= Things get blown about on the moon in utter stillness if there is no wind.
b. When the moon-wind begins to blow, some strange things happen. Make a list of all the unlikely things that take place on the moon.
= The unlikely things that takes place on the moon are -
i. Candle shivers out due to the imaginary wind.
ii. A giant drifts away in the wind.
iii. He booms and flounders and pass like the swans at a sea.
iv. Gust of hens and cabbages knocks someone off his feet.
v. A tearing twisting sheet of pond smacks with a frog. A camp of caravans screech and takes off.
vi. A Ferris wheel swings backward and forward along the skyline like a giraffe.
c. Which words does the poet use to describe the following or the movement they make?
i. candle(flame)
ii. giant marquee
iii. hens and cabbages
iv. pond, caravans
v. Ferris wheel
In what way are the words appropriate?
=
i. candle(flame) : shivers out;
ii. giant marquee : booms and flounders;
iii. hens and cabbages : knocks off;
iv. pond, caravans : clouts;
v. Ferris wheel : bounds along;
The words are appropriate to describe those thigs when wind blows. The flame of a candle flickers out in the wind. Giant can float in the gust of wind and do all the mischievous activities. Hens and cabbages get thrown away in the flow of wind. Twisting sheet of pond smacks with a frog. Ferris wheel usually swings backward and forward according to the flow of the wind.
These questions are more difficult. Discuss them first.
d. What is so strange about the idea in the last line of the poem? Can you think of any other expressions of this kind?
= Hypothetically, there is no trace of life on the moon. There is no air, no water and no animal or plant in it. Nature has its own aspect. In spite of being lifeless, the moon has its own kind of geographical phenomenon.
Things get blown about, though there is no wind on the moon. Nothing can cease the cycle of natural events on the moon. There is the use of oxymoron in the last line 'dead-still blast' to show the lively activities in lifelessness.
Another expression of this kind my be - Nothing can cease the silent explosion.
e. Do you like the poem? Can you say why you like or dislike it?
= Yes, I definitely like the poem.
In this poem, the poet provides us with a very strange picture of the wind that he imagines to be present on the moon. He goes on to point out that the wind seems to be howling all over the moon's surface but it is doing so in 'utter stillness'.
This is very strange indeed, rather like using phrases such as 'bright darkness', 'dark sunlight' or 'cold flames'. In the poem, we also come across very unusual things such as 'a squall of cabbages' and 'a somersaulting giraffe'.
We generally have a fairy-tale like imagination about the moon. Here we see how the poet has used his imagination to create completely new images with which to amuse and startle us. He has sited us a new horizon of imagination about the moon.
UNDERSTANDING POETRY
2. The rhyming scheme of the poem is abcb. Is this true throughout the poem?
= The rhyming scheme of the poem is abcb. This is true throughout the poem. If we consider the first four lines, 'about' of the second line and 'out' of the fourth line rhymes.
There is no wind on the moon at all [a]
Yet things get blown about. [b]
In utter, utter stillness [c]
Your candles shivers out. [b]
This rhyme scheme has been followed throughout the poem.
3. Is there one pair that does not quite rhyme?
= Yes, there is one pair that does not quite rhyme. In the fifth set of rhyming, the word 'off' does not quite rhyme with the word 'giraffe'.
A camp of caravans suddenly [a]
Squawks and takes off. [b]
A Ferris wheel bounds along the skyline [c]
Like a somersaulting giraffe. [b]
About the Poet :
Ted Hughes (1930-1998) was born in Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire. He went to Cambridge University to study English and later switched to archaeology and anthropology. He won many prizes for his poems and was appointed Poet Laureate in 1984.