Critical appreciation of Ted Hughes' "Thistles" and his intentions on writing the poem.

Ted Hughes is a renowned, restrained poet for his ability to be intricate, and his concealment of emotion in insignificant forms of life. In the poem, Thistles, Hughes personalizes Thistles; such trivial plant, to successfully evoke the lives of human beings, while emphasizing nature's dominance over men. The poem also deals with the idea of history being repeated in a cycle, the dead being "resurrected". Such complex ideas are effectively conveyed through language techniques, diction …

…Scotland. Today, the strength of thistles are reborn and are "fighting back over the same ground" as they did centuries ago, however the Vikings have been worn down and vanished. Leaving, a petty form of nature once thought to be such trivial; stronger than humanity. Hughes was able to take a perfectly ordinary object and cast it in an entirely new light; transforming thistle from humble weeds into a symbol of strength, resistance and humankind.