May 01

Ted Hughes' "Crow's First Lesson" reminds me a bit of superstition.  Many stories that I have heard tell that a crow is a soul's guide to the afterlife and thus is associated with death and by some evil.  The crow in this poem doesn't want to be evil and is even ashamed to have let loose the things that it did from its mouth.  The things that come out, the shark, the disease ridden mosquitoes, ect... are all bringers of death.  It is also ironic that God is trying to teach the crow about love and all that is created is evil.  It is also interesting that each time something more devastating it brought forth from the crow's mouth.  It brings out the ideas in what some people see in humanity even today.  You can try and teach things and people about love, but sometimes the product of that effort bears rotten fruit.  Overall, a good poem and something to philosophically contemplate. :)

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