Sylvia Plath vs Ted Hughes

Sylvia Plaths poem, Whiteness I consider, and Ted Hughess poem, Sam, are two poems which describe an experience of Plaths when she was a student at Cambridge. She was out on her first ride when the horse she had hired the normally-placid Sam, bolted. Although Ted Hughess is describing the experience he uses insinuations passim the poem to let out his perception of his marriage with Sylvia Plath, hence infuriating, the conflict in perspective mingled with the two poems.The ideas of conflicting perspective suggest that the composers of the texts present an even-handed, unbiased attitude to the events, personalities or situations represented. Conflicting perspectives look the subjective truth of the individual, which are shaped by the construction of a text by a biased composer. Each persons version of the truth in events, personalities and situations differs, by viewing depart perspectives an understanding of the motives and purpose of the composer is formed. Sam is Hughes retrosp ective interpretation of an event in Plaths life earlier she met him and which she had represented in the poem Whiteness I remember. Hughes poem itself contains what can be interpret as conflicting perspectives of her personality and when read in conjunction with Whiteness I remember reveals elicit similarities and differences. Hughes seems to accept Plaths account of the event I can live Your incredulity, your certainty that this was it and he does tie down closely to her description of her experiences during the horses headlong flight to the stable.However, the repetition of You disordered your stirrups, You lost your reins, you lost your seat, combine to depict Plath as a terrified victim unable to control or take responsibility for the consequences of her own actions. In contrast Plaths poem suggests she was exhilarated by the zip and endangerment and identified with what she represents as the horses rebellion against the humdrum of suburbia.In contrast Hughes accuses her of glamorising her loss of control. It was grab his make love and adore him or free fall. Once again the reader is arguably left with the legal opinion that Hughes is still identifying with Sam and suggesting there are parallels between her relationship with him and the horse. As the stanza continues Hughes builds the momentum and pace with a series of commas as punctuation and an enjambment.The choice of verb in You slewed under his neck, an upside down jockey with nothing between you and the cataract of macadam creates an image of Plath unable to maintain a balance and in imminent danger of being smashed into the road by the horses hooves at high speed. The alliteration and the metaphor of the horribly hard swift river in full flood combine with the propeller terror of his front legs and the onomatopoeia of clangour of the entreat shoes to transform the horse into an engine of destruction.