Fragment of an Ancient Tablet
Ted Hughes * Track #22 On Crow
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Album Crow
- #1Two Legends
Ted Hughes
- #2Lineage
Ted Hughes
- #3Examination at the Womb-Door
Ted Hughes
- #4Crow and Mama
Ted Hughes
- #5Crow’s First Lesson
Ted Hughes
- #6Crow Alights
Ted Hughes
- #7That Moment
Ted Hughes
- #8Crow’s Tyrannosaurus
Ted Hughes
- #9Crow Communes
Ted Hughes
- #10Crow’s Theology
Ted Hughes
- #11Crow’s Fall
Ted Hughes
- #12Crow and the Birds
Ted Hughes
- #13In Laughter
Ted Hughes
- #14Crow Goes Hunting
Ted Hughes
- #15Crow’s Elephant Totem Song
Ted Hughes
- #16Owl’s Song
Ted Hughes
- #17Crow Blacker Than Ever
Ted Hughes
- #18Crow Sickened
Ted Hughes
- #19Crow and the Sea
Ted Hughes
- #20Crow’s Last Stand
Ted Hughes
- #21Apple Tragedy
Ted Hughes
- #22Fragment of an Ancient Tablet
Ted Hughes
- #23Lovesong
Ted Hughes
- #24Littleblood
Ted Hughes
- #25The Scream
Ted Hughes
Fragment of an Ancient Tablet by Ted Hughes
Performed by
Ted HughesAbout
This poem shows the contrast between the traditional views of women, and more specifically, the female body, and the actual corporeal reality. Hughes parallels the ‘above’ and ‘below’ throughout the poem, as if the ‘tablet’ mentioned in the title tells the fairytale on one side, and the reality on t...
Fragment of an Ancient Tablet Annotated
Above - the well-known lips, delicately downed.
Below - beard between thighs.
Above - her brow, the notable casket of gems.
Below - the belly with its blood-knot.
Above - many a painful frown.
Below - the ticking bomb of the future.
Above - her perfect teeth, with the hint of a fang at the corner.
Below - the millstones of two worlds.
Above - a word and a sigh.
Below - gouts of blood and babies.
Above - the face, shaped like a perfect heart.
Below - the heart's torn face.