Comparing 'Calf' by Gillian Clarke and 'February 17th' by Ted Hughes.

... Comparing 'Calf' by Gillian Clarke and 'February 17th' by Ted Hughes By Rob Corley Both poets are writing about an experience of the same thing, a birth. Hughes' however, is a bad birth and Clarke's is a good birth. Although they are relating the same subject, the two poems are very different, not only in the style of writing but in the story and atmosphere. The themes in both are the partnership of life and death. They both start by setting the atmosphere with the weather. Hughes depicts a bad atmosphere by describing the worst of winter days: "Ice wind Out of a downpour dishclout sunrise". In contrast Clarke expresses the loveliest day of the year: "The stillest, hottest day of the summer" Also Hughes describes the inhospitable environment of the: "Mudded slope" So right from the start it can be seen that Hughes is going to be relating a bad birth, and Clarke's is going

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