Hang tight while we fetch the video data and transcripts. This only takes a moment.
Connecting to YouTube player…
Fetching transcript data…
We’ll display the transcript, summary, and all view options as soon as everything loads.
Next steps
Loading transcript tools…
The Jaguar | Ted Hughes | Poetry Analysis | GCSE Literature | English with Kayleigh | English with Kayleigh | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: The Jaguar | Ted Hughes | Poetry Analysis | GCSE Literature | English with Kayleigh
Skip watching entire videos - get the full transcript, search for keywords, and copy with one click.
Share:
Video Transcript
Video Summary
Summary
Core Theme
Ted Hughes's poem "The Jaguar" contrasts the listless existence of zoo animals with the fierce, uncontainable spirit of a jaguar, exploring themes of captivity versus freedom and the power of the mind to transcend physical limitations.
hello everyone and welcome back to
English with Kaylee in today's video
we're going to analyze another one of
Ted hughes's poems this one entitled the
Jaguar so as always we'll read through
the poem we'll do a brief summary and
we'll discuss the themes before we do
our stanza by stanza analysis
um and finally I'll leave you with an
essay question that we can discuss in
the comments below
the Jaguar by Ted Hughes
the Apes yawn and adore their flees in
the Sun
parrot shriek as if they were on fire or
strapped like cheap Tarts to attract the
stroller with the nut
fatigued with indolence tiger and lion
lies still as the sun
the boa constrictor's coil is a fossil
cage after cage seems empty or stinks of
sleepers from the breathing straw
it might be painted on a nursery wall
but who runs like the rest past these
arrives at a cage where the crowd stands
stares mesmerized as a child at a dream
at a dream
at a Jaguar hurrying enraged through
prison Darkness after the drills of his
eyes on a short Fierce fuse
not in boredom
the eyes satisfied to be blind in fire
by the bangs of blood in the brain death
the ear
he spins from the bars but there's no
cage to him more than to the Visionary
his cell
his stride is wildernesses of freedom
the world rolls under the long thrust of
his heel
okay so let's take a look at a summary
of the poem so first of all it opens
with the zoo animals we see the Apes we
see a snake and the Tigers and the lions
for example they're all seen looking
very bored and and still
as the speaker moves they find what it
what looks like empty cages basically
due to the inactivity of the animals and
they comment on the smell that's coming
from each cage
so the suspense builds as the speaker
describes the audience looking at the
Jaguar who furiously spins around in his cage
cage
and we get the sense that the Jaguar
isn't bored and doesn't feel his
physical confinement can trap or tame
him in his mind he is free and the world
still spins under his feet
so for like the majority of Houston
spawns we have to see the Jaguar as as a
metaphor as well not just the the
literal animal that's in the cage so
some of the themes we'll discuss is
captivity versus Freedom
um and the power of the mind and
Imagination and again that extends to to
the to humans as well
so our stanza by standard analysis so
the the poem opens with the Apes yawn
and adore their flees in the Sun so this
very powerful imagery from the offset
um you know we see these wild animals
but then we we're sharply contrasted
with that that boredom and inactivity
that we see and that they that they face
in captivity and this is reflected in
those drawn out sounds of the yawn adore
um and and is and ends with that end
stop line in the Sun so the end stop
there just emphasizing that this is all
that they do there is nothing else to
stimulate or motivate them to want or
the Apes yawn the parrot shriek so we've
got this anaphora here just emphasizing
the monotony of the day
um and that that there really is nothing
else that that they engage with or that
they do
the parts shriek as if they were on fire
or they strut like cheap Tarts to
attract the stroller with the nut so we
have two similes here that really
reflect the unhappiness of the caged
birds so the first ones are these kind
of cries of entrapment they shriek as if
they were on fire and to be on fire is
you know it does give this idea of being entrapped
entrapped
um and of course that's the metaphor for
being trapped in captivity as well and
then we've also got this idea of them
strutting like you know promiscuous women
women
um hoping to get some some food from
from the passersby and I will go back to
to this idea of of women in the poem
um especially when we consider that the
Jaguar is male and some kind of deeper
layered analysis that we'll consider at
the end
the key thing though is that like the
Apes and the Tigers and the Lions
they're not doing what they are made to
do so they're not flying
fatigued with indolence so just tired of
being bored here
um tiger and lion and this very much
juxtaposes their life in the wild they
are the Fearsome Killers top of the food chain
chain
um so it juxtaposes with their their
inactivity that that they're
experiencing and that they're showing
so Hughes could be suggesting here and
talking about how captivity suffers and
drains the animals of their true nature
and in the jaguar and how he juxtaposes
that perhaps Hughes is encouraging this
kind of resistance to to Conformity and
confinement again we'll consider that in
terms of how that expands and extends to
humans as well
so fatigued with indolence tiger and
lion so we have on geomet intestands too
it creates a sense of anticipation for
the reader because we expect for
something to happen from the tiger and
the lion but of course it doesn't happen
they simply lie still as the sun and the
simile here emphasizes their Stillness
because it seems as if it's the world
and the zoo that moves around them you
know the sun only seems to appear to
move because the Earth is rotating so we
get that same sense that they are not
moving it just seems that everything
around them is is continuing
many and stop lines used throughout the
stanzas and so we've got more here these
um these full stops sorry not in stop
lines but the full stops here the Sun
and is is a fossil this full stop
creates a very sudden stop and halt
um in that they're not moving the boa
constrictors coil is a fossil
um so a very much of a very sudden sharp
Halt and stopped to to the sentence to
really allow the reader to reflect on
the the effects of captivity
is a fossil I think what's quite
interesting here is that we've moved
from similes in stanza one um and even
at the start of stanza to lie still as
the sun and now we move to a metaphor
and this really highlights that there's
no return for these animals now this is
what they have been reduced to when
you're like something there's always a
possibility that you may change but when
you are something it seems a lot more
unlikely that you're going to be able to
find or change um
um
that moves on here to the cage after
cage so we've got this diacop here which
is just repetition in close succession
cage after cage seems empty again we get
this very harsh reality of these you
know numerous cages right next to each
other and the amount of animals that are
that are caged and trapped there
and we get this imagery of of a lifeless prison
prison
and that the animals are subject to
stinks of sleepers from the breathing
straw a very intense sibilance here
suggesting the disgust of the speaker in
the fact that they can see this and
smell it but it also emphasizes that
stench that's being emitted from the cages
cages
and the standard finishes it might be
painted on a nursery wall this sentence
is written in perfect iambic pentameter
um and it's very interesting that it
goes to show this very dull and tame Zoo
could almost be used as a picture in a
nursery and at a nursery in in Britain
would mean either a preschool but it can
also be a child's playroom at home so it
just goes to show how that that wildness
and that um
animalistic behavior and and ex display
is removed from the animals so much so
that it could be on a nursery wall it's
very much unthreatening it's tamed it's
a boring version of nature due to the
so stanza 3 the suspense and the
anticipation it builds for the reader
because we're still awaiting the title anymore
anymore
um and this is where we start to see a
shift here we've got this very powerful
contrasting conjunction but
who runs like the rest past these arrive
at a cage where the crowds stand
upstairs mesmerized
um so here we further he's further built
the arrival
um as he decides to describe the
spectators first and how they are almost
captivated themselves in a dream so
we've got this simile here of this all
and wonder
and finally we're introduced to the
Jaguar at a Jaguar hurrying enraged
through prison Darkness after the drills
of his eyes
straight away we want to be looking
commenting on the juxtaposition with the
animals in stanza 1 and stanza 2. he is
still he being the Jaguar is still a
ferocious so his wildness is intact
and we see his eyes are drills and we
get this into they can break through the
bars of this prison of this physical
space he's within and also perhaps into
the souls of the spectators who stand
and watch him
forcing us to consider our stance on
captivity and keeping animals locked up
through prison Darkness after the drills
of his eyes on a short Fierce fuse so we
keep that on German the short fuse here
and we consider this kind of angry
Outburst we use this to talk about
people if we say someone has a short
fuse it means that they they can get
very aggressive very quickly so the
Jaguar could almost explode into
violence at any moment and this is
obviously mimicked by the sibilance and
the alliteration of f the short Fierce fuse
fuse
interestingly again juxtaposing the
other animals not in boredom so this act
and this display is not driven by
boredom but its Primal Instinct as a
wild cat
the eye is satisfied to be blind in fire
by the bang of blood in the brain death
the ear I think this is one of my
favorite lines in in the poem we get
this sense of the intensity of the blood
pumping to the brain it's almost
deafening for the jaguar and that's
emphasized by these very sharp plosive B
sounds the bang the blood the brain
re-emphasizes his very ferocious wild nature
nature
and the stanza finishes with he spins
from the bars but there's no cage to him
so again that very stark contrast with
the other animals
um and it also talks about that physical
space the cage it does not impact the
freedom of his mind
um and and the wildness that it
possesses so again using it as that
metaphorical meaning for the physical
so standard five we have more on government
government
um so the stanzas uh stanza four and
stands are five the androman used
reflects that the Jaguars freedom and
his movement around the cage more than
to the Visionary his cell it's quite a
lot to say on this one and so this could
this is an analogy
um comparing the Jaguar's freedom to a
Visionary so a Visionary is obviously
somebody who sees beyond the limits of
their world
um which is of course we see that very
explicitly for the Jaguar here
um but we also have this if we consider
the word cell and the connotations so
this could obviously mean a prisoner
which is more linked more closely linked
to to the Jaguar itself or it can also
reference a member of a religious
community as well
um and if we consider that we look at
how an imprisoned Visionary can still
find Freedom within their own minds in
their imagination
um and how that is that's created for them
them
and the poem then ends with three metaphors
metaphors
um which show that the Jaguar is
unchanged and it highlights the freedom
and the power that he retains
the first one being his stride is
wildernesses of Freedom so even each
step that it takes is freedom itself
um and that the final section the world
rolls under the long thrust of his heel
over the cage floor the horizons come
this very much suggests power over the
world uh even as the world tries to tame
the Jaguar through captivity and this
one definitely reminds me of Hawk roosting
roosting
um in terms of being that the the
Predator to the prey and having that
kind of that power
over the world
so as I said we very much have to see
the Jaguar as a symbol like with many of
hughes's poems
um and it is that idea that no physical
boundary can contain the human mind and
through imagination we can actually
so before I give you the essay question
and we consider the form the meter and
the rhyme I do think that this poem has
a lot of deeper meanings and we just
need to to touch upon it briefly so
we're going to analyze the the Jaguars
the symbol and considerate layered
analysis so obviously the Jaguar is this
symbol of this Primal instinctive
energies and the imagination that humans possess
possess
and this idea of thinking outside the
box so the Jaguar does this very
physically from the cage and thinking
about life outside he's able to drill
through the cage
um and as humans we tend to conform and
think of things very much inside the box
and maybe Hughes is commenting on
resisting that and changing the way that
we think
this might suggest that the feeling of
confinement in society and its norms and expectations
expectations
um and finally I did say that we'd go
back to this idea of the Jaguar being
male and the cheap Tarts mentioned in
stanza one being female and if we couple
this with the recurring mention of
children and the nursery it could also
be a metaphor for the confinements of
domestic life and how it can suck very
specifically for a man it can suck him
of his power and virility and that kind
of you know power
um that that they claim and that they
have so you could also mention that in
your layered analysis just to push it
further and show that kind of personal response
response
so in terms of form meter and rhyme so
we've got five quatrains which mimic the
physical confinement of the cages the
speakers move from stanza to stanza like
the strollers passing from one empty
the meter it doesn't have a strict meter
however I did say earlier on sometimes
it slips into iambic pentameter so line
eight is written in perfect ionic
pentameter and that quite rigid
structure there captures that boredom
and the repetitive nature of Life at the
zoo for many of the animals
and for rhyme we do have a rhyme scheme
this A B B A except the third and the
last stanza
um so we call these enclosed couplets um
so it's a form of this poetic
imprisonment which links back uh to the
to the content of the poem and the theme
of captivity
and the stanzas that deviate are the
ones that show the Jaguars movement and
thus emphasize once again his imagined freedom
freedom
okay so the essay question I'll leave
you with is how does Hughes strikingly
convey the jaguar in the poem so be sure
to leave some comments down below and we
can discuss them ahead of any exams that
you may have and please don't forget to
like And subscribe for more Ted huge
analysis videos and I'll catch you in
the next one bye guys [Music]
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
