PECULIARITIES OF PORTRAYING ANIMALS IN MODERN ENGLISH POETRY

Abstract

This article analyzes the methods of expressing animal imagery (animalistic images) in modern English poetry. The main focus is on the works of Ted Hughes, exploring how themes such as violence, instinct, freedom, and the human psyche are conveyed through animals in his famous poems like “Hawk Roosting,” “Pike,” and “The Jaguar.” The article also compares Hughes’s approach to that of other modern English-language poets such as W. B. Yeats, D. H. Lawrence, and Mary Oliver, who also incorporate animal imagery in their works. Throughout the study, animals are examined not merely as biological beings, but as symbolic, shamanistic, metaphorical, and psychological tools. Animal imagery is viewed as a poetic method that reveals the complex interrelation between human experience, instinct, culture, and freedom