How does Ted Hughes convey the power and violence in animals through the poem “Pike” ?

Animals are living thingsthat we see in our everyday lives yet we don’t seem to give them any importance. Very few people give them the respect they deserve. In the following essay, I’m going to prove there is power and violence in animals and humanity.

On the one hand, there’s violence as animals kill, not for fun, but because it’s a survival instinct. They need to kill in order to be able to eat and survive. They are irrational creatures so the don’t know that what they do is wrong. «Three we kept behind glass (…) Suddenly there were two. Finally one.» By writing this, tha author wants to show that as the man took the pike away from its habitat, they ate each other in order to survive. But humans are racional beings, which means that we know what’s wrong and right.

On the other hand, the poem also depicts power. «Or moved stunned by their own grandeur». They were described as a perfect fish, perfect size, perfect movements. Little fishes were scared of them as they seemed so strong and powerful, as the y were so arrogant and modest.

To sum up, animals aren’t treated like they should be, they’re not respected. People don’t treat them as living creatures.