Under the North Star by Ted Hughes

 This is another poetry collection by Ted Hughes. The images in this book are much for striking than the mermaids purse, and so I'm drawn to it visually for that reason. The close up of the bear that takes up an entire page is really stunning. The poems, I have found, although they may be some what abstract and difficult to understand, sound really cool when read out loud. Ted Hughes makes up some words such as in the phrase: Doomed is the Dab. When reading it, although Dab is not a word, as far as I know, you can almost put your own meaning to it when read with the rest of the poem. Whatever word you associate with Dab works, since he didn't specify one. All of the poems in this collection are about wild animals. He portrays them as fierce and yet possessing human qualities, like an osprey who folds his wings and bows to God. 

     I don't think I'd read these poems to my class since I feel they reflect his own outlook on life which I believe is less of a positive one and more centered on the idea that the strongest survive. Although I find the beauty of nature he describes so well in his work inspiring, his heightened focus of violence somewhat turns me off.