the harvest moon

the text of the poem is on page 142 of your books

some introductory thoughts on what the poem is about

• This poem, on the surface at least, starts as a joyous poem about the moon, a long-standing favourite subject for poets from many cultures, English-language culture not least.  Despite the positive, festive opening of the poem, it goes on to develop some darker themes.

• Hughes's poem focuses on the 'harvest moon' a phenomenon from autumn, when both moon and the tides controlled by the moon manifest extreme forms.  So, tides at this time of year are at their highest and lowest, and the full moon at the closest point to the autumn equinox was sometimes known as a 'harvest moon', as it often coincided with harvest-time in northern European places such as England.

• Whilst the straightforward musicality and the vivid imagery of the opening of the poem create a festive atmosphere in keeping with the joy of bringing in the harvest at the end of summer, solemn imagery of threat and fear create more disturbing thoughts, and the overall effect is one of complexity and ambiguity.

• By the way, if you're not too sure what a bassoon is and what it sounds like, then check out the link here.

some questions to consider

• Why do you think that Hughes chooses the metaphor of a balloon to describe the 'harvest moon'? 

• What's the effect of the clear, emphatic rhymes (and assonance) - ('moon', 'balloon', 'doubloon', 'booming', 'bassoon')?  

• Why might Hughes have chosen to use the simile of the 'doubloon' (English version of the Spanish word doblón, a large old coin, sometimes associated with treasure-chests)?

• Despite the prominent use of rhyme in the poem, the stanzas are fairly free in form, and follow an irregular pattern: what effect might this have on meaning?

• In what sense might you imagine the large moon 'booming'?  And how might you imagine the earth replying 'like a deep drum'?  What do these images suggest to your imagination?

• 'So people can't sleep' - why do you think Hughes uses such an everyday phrase here?

• Why do trees 'keep / A kneeling vigil, in a religious hush'?  In what sense might you imagine trees being religious?

• The moon is often referred to as 'she' by poets, and Hughes follows in this tradition - what's the effect of his choice on your imagination?

• Why might the animals stare up at the moon 'petrified' (turned to stone through fear)?  Here is apparent an idea of fear and of a power more awe-inspiring than the simple joys of the rhyming celebration.

• Hughes returns to the idea of the moon being hot: the 'flame-red moon' of line 1 becomes 'as if red-hot' in the 4th stanza: what does this imagery of heat suggest to you? 

• The moon sails 'closer and closer' (to what?), 'like the end of the world' - what does this apocalyptic imagery conjure up in your mind?  

• The image of a harvest appears in the last stanza, and it's followed by an odd image of 'the rivers' which 'sweat from the melting hills' - how might you understand this very physical metaphor?

• By the time we reach the end of the poem, there's clearly more to it than a simple celebration of joy (created through the sonorous rhymes and images of the balloon-like moon).  What ideas come into your imagination with the introduction of these apocalyptic themes?

• What do you like best about this poem?  

• What surprised you most in the descriptions of the moon?

• Try reading some of the poems about the moon listed below - which do you think is most unlike Hughes's poem?

some creative writing to help you understand the poem more deeply

• Try writing a short piece of description of a moonlit night: what springs to mind as you think about what to write?  Are you going to take Hughes's poem as inspiration, or are you going to try something contrasting - what about a moon in the dead of winter?  Or a tiny sliver of an occluded moon?

Poems on related subjects by Ted Hughes

New Moon in January on page 75 of your books.

Full Moon and Little Frieda on page 87 of your books.

Dawn's Rose on page 107 of your books.

some other lovely poems in English about the moon and related topics

• Queen and Huntress, chaste and fair * by Ben Jonson

• The Moon * by Robert Louis Stevenson

• The Moon was but a Chin of Gold * by Emily Dickinson

• Moonrise * by D.H. Lawrence

• Under the Harvest Moon * by Carl Sandburg

• a poem about the moon * by e.e. cummings

A selection of poems in English * about the moon, made by Dr Oliver Tearle, a literary critic and lecturer in English at Loughborough University, England.

If you're really fascinated by poems about the moon, then you'll want to buy Carol Ann Duffy's anthology of such poems.  It's easy to buy - see here *.

An interesting podcast discussion * of the poem from teachers at Bristol Grammar School.

photo

Moonlight - photo by James Harding.