Compare the poems Hard Frost and winter the Huntsman
“Winter the Huntsman” and Hard Frost” are both poems which have the same settings, both are in the season of winter, Hard Frost (HF) was set at the end of winter and Winter the Huntsman (WTH) was set at the beginning of winter. “WTH” is set in a forest being captured by winter and “HF” is set in a rural, and near habitation. Also the image in hard frost is completely different to image portrayed in W. T. H. The image from H. F is that there is human habitation this is proven by this quote ‘at every footstep a tiny brittle pane is broken’.
With the idea of humans being able to live along side with frost gives me the effect a Christmas card feel to the poem. In W. T. H the image created by the poem is completely different. The image is a cruel and harsh. The theme is a huntsman hunting down all colour and life from summer. Differences in the poem are continued with the use of personification. In “HF” frost is depicted as a soldier of the army of winter, evidence of this is numerous. One particular piece from the poem describes it best, “Frost called to water “Halt! , this personifies frost as someone who would command like a sergeant in the army. More aspects of frost being humanlike is in the following quote ‘interns poor fish’. This means that he has the power to lock away fish like people in prison cells. In “WTH” the poem personifies winter as a huntsman, evidence of this is this quote “is it winter the huntsman galloping”, I think that showing winter to be a huntsman is interesting idea. The effect of winter being a huntsman gives me image of a Huntsman hunting down the last of the summer, more good imagery from this idea is that it reflects winter as a season.
It reflects it because winter like a huntsman it is unpredictable and kills animals and plants as well as being a strong season with a few deaths. I have also picked out some evidence of the image of the huntsman being of a cruel nature, this quote shows it well “Crashing his cruel whip”. My reasons for picking out this evidence is that its key word is cruel, normally a huntsman kills for keeping animal numbers down or for food. Being cruel for no reason has raised attention for winter the huntsman enjoying the deaths he causes.
The idea of winter the huntsman taking deaths gives him more power than anything in the forest. Evidence of him having power is in this quote “hiding each tree from his brother”, this shows that he has the power to torture trees when the huntsman likes. Both poems are littered in figures of speech. One example in hard frost is a mixture of simile and alliteration this quote is it “and tench in water bowls lurk under gluey glass like fish in bowls”.
The simile in this piece of figurative language is effective because it gives effect of fish trapped in fish bowls; the bowls are formed by a unfrozen ice in the centre of a pond, giving the comparison of tench acting like goldfish. The alliteration in this poem ‘gluey glass’ reinforces the idea of the fish being trapped in bowls; it does this by the ‘gl’ sound made when you say the words. The effect is given because if you say ‘gl’ it slows down your speaking speed.
This is similar to the situation the fish are in, because the fish are stuck in the bowls and the alliteration slows down your speech rather like glue does to objects. A good example of good figurative language in winter the huntsman is these two simple words “iron glades” its dramatic effect is to harness the fact that winter is in the forest. It does this by comparing a frozen patch grass to a open area made from iron. The writer has chosen to do this because the colour of iron is dull and boring which reflects the grass in the glade.
The fact that the grass looks dull gives more effect to image that winter the huntsman is killing of colour. Also iron tough and hard this probably indicates that the ground is frozen solid, another property of iron is that it is shiny, this contrasts with idea that the glade is frozen so that is shines a it. Another piece of imagery generated by HF is a metaphor ‘hangs a dagger from house eaves’, this metaphor is comparing icicles to daggers. Using daggers another way do describe icicles gives the effect of a shape material, also daggers are reflective so that reinforces the idea of sharp cold weapon.
Use of language in both poems is quite similar except for some types which tend to be different in a few ways. An example of colour used in poems would be one in H. F, it mentions colours (green, black and white) and allows colour to be present in the poem. In winter the huntsman colour is being hunted down, this quote proves this idea “and copper leaves fall” this suggests that the last of the leaves are gone so there is no more colour. One more of creative language is how harsh the poem is.
In Hard Frost people are allowed to live, an example of this is “at every footstep breaks a brittle pane”. The key word in the sentence to give the idea of human habitation is ‘footsteps’. With idea of human habitation this poem gives me the image of a Christmas card. In winter the huntsman this is completely opposite, because it’s more about winter taking over life and being cruel to what’s left of life. Evidence of this is “as night creeps from the ground hides each tree from its brother” this gives me the image that he is isolating the trees so that makes them more vulnerable to the winter.
I got the impression he is killing trees and being harsh. This is in the sentence “till many a mighty branch is torn asunder” this means that he is ripping the limbs of the trees making them feel pain. In the end both poems are different in imagery but the best image in my opinion is the one in hard frost because it’s the Christmas that everyone tends to see. However winter the huntsman is more realistic but it is a image of winter that people don’t want to see, because of the holiday of Christmas.
