Sylvia Plath vs Ted Hughes

Sylvia Plaths poem, Whiteness I Remember, 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 clam she had hired the normally-placid Sam, bolted. Although Ted Hughess is describing the experience he uses insinuations throughout the poem to let out his perception of his marriage with Sylvia Plath, hence infuriating, the conflict in situation amid 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 delineate. Conflicting perspectives explore 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 separate perspectives an understanding of the motives and purpose of the composer is formed. Sam is Hughes ex post fa cto interpretation of an event in Plaths life before she met him and which she had represented in the poem Whiteness I remember. Hughes poem itself contains what mint be interpreted as conflicting perspectives of her personality and when read in conjunction with Whiteness I remember reveals interesting 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 adhere closely to her description of her experiences during the horses headlong race to the stable.However, the repetition of You lost your stirrups, You lost your reins, you lost your seat, combine to furnish 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 speed and danger and identified with what she represents as the horses ascent against the humdrum of suburbia.In contrast Hughes accuses her of glamorising her loss of control. It was grab his neck and venerate him or free fall. Once again the reader is arguably left with the impression 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 have sex 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 highway by the horses hooves at high speed. The alliteration and the metaphor of the horribly grave swift river in full flood combine with the propeller brat of his front legs and the onomatopoeia of clangour of the iron shoes to transform the horse into an railway locomotive of destruction.