"Thistles" by Ted Hughs

In the poem "Thistles" by Ted Hughes there are a number of different themes and ideas that are put across. George Macbeth, the acclaimed literary critic, has made some very powerful and in-depth comments about the poem. He states that the poem is"praise to the unkillable virtue of heroism" I personally am not sure whether to disagree or agree with this analogy. However I do agree with later comments about Hughes "presenting this quality …

…ugliness in the face of natures beauty. To conclude, Macbeth states that the poem is "praise to the unkillable virtue of heroism" I believe that in some ways the poem is this, but I also believe that it is an ode to nature and a plea for the destruction to end. As is neatly summed up in the last line of the poem "Their sons appear, stiff with weapons, fighting back over the same ground."