Wind Notes

Stanza 2

The first stanza ends with the enjambment technique to give it a sense of
incompleteness and the reader has to continue to the second stanza to reach the
end of the thought. This effect mirrors the prolonged action of the wind as it
rages from the night into morning. The night is finally over, but daybreak does not
restore peace. Instead, the sky is orange, and “the hills had new places.” This
storm has changed everything. The colour scheme of the poem is disturbing and
the 'orange' sky, is combined with luminous black and 'emerald' or 'green' light
that is 'luminous black’ that is creating an uncomfortable feeling as if the natural
order has become sick and disturbed, for ‘emerald’ contrasts unhealthily with
‘orange’ light. In the oxymoron ‘luminous black’, Hughes gives an unnatural
quality of black light, shining, as if the order of nature has been destroyed, even
as if the darkness is so sharp and it has become bright and brilliant dominating
the scene. Unnatural images continue where he shows that the storm has
become so powerful that in the morning ‘the hills had new places.’ “The hill had
new places” undermines the reader’s faith in the permanence and reliability of
the hills as these massive structures seem to have undergone a disastrous change
as the destruction caused by the wind has changed the way the hills look now.
Wind is personified as a giant holding a sword that is giving out “blade light” that
it is so hard that it can even cut the metal The image of the 'lens of a mad eye' is
odd, as if a giant eye is staring, its pupil dilating and contracting ferociously
looking for the next thing to destroy.

Stanza 3
The house is being compared to an unstable ship again, and the narrator attempts
to vertically climb it to reach the coal room get fuel for the fire. It is ‘noon’ time
but the wind has not stopped with its destruction, the horizontal landscape has
changed into a vertical scale as if he's clinging on to a steep edge. The character
has to "scale" instead of walk almost like a mountaineer due to the oppressive
wind. The wind makes his eyes feel like they've been punched by roaming debris
when he tries to look up. The hills are being compared to tents; the wind has
 become so destructive that the trees on the hills are just flapping and fluttering
falling apart like the tents in harsh wind. The image of the hills being a tent gives
the feeling of hills being a temporary shelter, no more than a cloth stretched over
ropes which could at any time collapse for they are trying to hold on to their
appearance as the “guyropes,” are “strained” that were intended to keep the
tents fastened to the ground. The violent onomatopoeia of the hills being beaten
down by the wind as if they are drums intensifies the effect of the ravages of
wind. It is also an excellent visual metaphor, reinforced by energetic verbs to
make the reader physically feel the force of the wind and giving the visual image
of the hills that have become so weak and unstable that they are flapping and
shaking, terrified by the wind.

Stanza 4
Hughes continues to personify the surroundings with “The fields quivering” as they
are shaking wildly as the wind rages through the crops. The skyline is also
personified giving an ugly and sad expression and is unable to keep up with the
monstrous power of the wind. Storng onomatopoeia has been used in the words
‘bang’ and ‘flap’ for the sky has to bear the continuous collision of roaming debris
and it feels that it can also disappear for the wind is going to throw it away with a
flapping sound in a second. A magpie and a seagull were thrown harshly away and
are bent, unable to fly straight. The ongoing idea that the wind is alive and has
malicious intentions can be seen from the fact that the wind intentionally threw a
“magpie” and the imagery become more disturbing when a large seagull is bent
like an iron bar slowly.” It is creating a slow movement in the middle of violence
and suddenness. The alliteration in the "black back gull’ is used to slow down the
pace of the reading, reflecting the suffering of the bird. The iron bar simile has
connotations of a crushing force creating the image of a metal being slowly bent by
wind which intensifies its enraged power. The stanza has been left incomplete by
the phrase ‘The house’ to create suspense for the readers to know what would
happen to the house in the next stanza.
Stanza 5
The speaker purposely ended the fourth stanza with a mid-sentence “The house,”
and the enjambment technique is used to link it to the 5 th stanza. The image of
the house is of a structure still standing alone just like the ship in the first stanza
which was ‘far out at sea.” The house in the 5th stanza has been compared to a
green crystal goblet which could be shattered anytime by the loud singing of the
wind. The wind is strong and ruthless, and compared to it, the house is like a
delicate goblet and the people inside, probably a couple cannot tolerate anything
including each other as the wind keeps on threatening and there is danger at the
heart of the poem. The sound of the wind is dominating the thought space of the
residents of the house and they are thinking about how to remain safe from the
brutality of the wind, so much so that they aren't even able to focus on reading a
book. . In the house, Hughes and his wife 'grip' their heart s as they are sitting
together which is indicated by the inclusive pronoun 'we’ giving the image of
togetherness but that is ironically combined with isolation as they 'cannot
entertain' each other, or cannot think of anything except the wind.

Stanza 6
The writer once again says that the foundation of the house is shaking just like a
rocking ship. The atmosphere presented is that of a comfortable scene but the
scenario is quite the opposite. The residents hope for the wind to stop and wish
the “fire” to be comforting but they cannot find any comfort because of the
constant howling of the wind. They merely “sit on;” there is nothing they can do
against the power of the wind. The speaker personifies the window, just as he has
personified the wind, and portrays it as shaking in fear of the wind, wanting “to
come in.” The window is struggling to withstand the pressure of the wind. The
couple can even hear “the stones cry out under the horizons” as the stones are
also personified crying as they are hurled into the air by the brutal and ruthless
wind. Everything within and outside the house is entirely at the mercy of the
wind.

Conclusion
It is said that the writer, Ted Hughes was having a rough phase with his wife and
was going through a separation when writing this poem. This poem shows the
wind as a monster which is said to be their fights and arguments. This shows their
relationship is being broken apart and the companionship bond has changed, it
has become weak and unstable as the house’s foundations move. The increasing
strength of the wind shows the greater difference between both the husband and
wife. The distance created in the hills and the house show that both of them are
moving away from each other. The first stanza represents their loneliness and
isolation with the house ‘far out at sea’ just like in fifth stanza; they are sitting
near the fire but are unable to talk to each other. The marriage has become like a
crystal goblet, it is said to be so fragile and weak.