Ted Hughes is a renowned, restrained poet for his ability to be intricate, and his concealment of emotion in insignificant forms of life. In the poem, Thistles, Hughes personalizes Thistles; such trivial plant, to successfully evoke the lives of human beings, while emphasizing nature's dominance over men. The poem also deals with the idea of history being repeated in a cycle, the dead being "resurrected". Such complex ideas are effectively conveyed through language techniques, diction …showed first 75 words of 705 total…

…showed last 75 words of 705 total…Scotland. Today, the strength of thistles are reborn and are "fighting back over the same ground" as they did centuries ago, however the Vikings have been worn down and vanished. Leaving, a petty form of nature once thought to be such trivial; stronger than humanity. Hughes was able to take a perfectly ordinary object and cast it in an entirely new light; transforming thistle from humble weeds into a symbol of strength, resistance and humankind.