“Relic” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Relic”

“Relic” Summary

“Relic” Themes

• 

  Nature's Brutality

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-16
• 

  The Circle of Life

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 8-11
  • Lines 12-14

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Relic”

• Lines 1-4

  I found this ...
  ... Continue the beginning.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-5

  The deeps are ...
  ... does not hold.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-9

  Nothing touches but, ...
  ... to the beach:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 10-11

  This is the ...
  ... claws, carapaces, skulls.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 12-15

  Time in the ...
  ... In the sea.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-16

  This curved jawbone ...
  ... now a cenotaph.

  

  

  

  

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“Relic” Symbols

• 

  The Ocean

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “I found this jawbone at the sea's edge:”
  • Line 2: “broken by the breakers or tossed”
  • Lines 4-5: “The deeps are cold: / In that darkness camaraderie does not hold.”
  • Lines 12-15: “Time in the sea eats its tail, thrives, casts these / Indigestibles, the spars of purposes / That failed far from the surface. None grow rich / In the sea.”
• 

  The Jawbone

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “I found this jawbone at the sea's edge:”
  • Lines 8-9: “Jaws / Eat and are finished and the jawbone comes to the beach:”
  • Lines 15-16: “This curved jawbone did not laugh / But gripped, gripped and is now a cenotaph.”

“Relic” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Irony

  

  

  

  

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  Where irony appears in the poem:

  • Lines 6-9: “And the jaws, / Before they are satisfied or their stretched purpose / Slacken, go down jaws; go gnawn bare. Jaws / Eat and are finished and the jawbone comes to the beach:”
  • Lines 15-16: “This curved jawbone did not laugh / But gripped, gripped and is now a cenotaph.”

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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  Where metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Lines 15-16: “This curved jawbone did not laugh / But gripped, gripped and is now a cenotaph.”

• Personification

  

  

  

  

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  Where personification appears in the poem:

  • Lines 10-11: “This is the sea's achievement; with shells, / Vertebrae, claws, carapaces, skulls.”
  • Lines 12-14: “Time in the sea eats its tail, thrives, casts these / Indigestibles, the spars of purposes / That failed far from the surface.”

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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  Where repetition appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “broken,” “breakers”
  • Line 6: “jaws”
  • Line 8: “jaws,” “Jaws”
  • Line 9: “jawbone”
  • Line 16: “gripped, gripped”

• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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  Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “crabs, dogfish,”
  • Line 8: “Slacken, go down jaws”
  • Lines 10-11: “shells, / Vertebrae, claws, carapaces, skulls.”
  • Line 12: “eats its tail, thrives, casts”

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “broken,” “by,” “breakers”
  • Line 3: “half,” “hour,” “crust”
  • Line 4: “Continue,” “deeps,” “cold”
  • Line 5: “darkness,” “camaraderie,” “does”
  • Line 7: “satisfied,” “stretched”
  • Line 8: “Slacken”
  • Line 10: “sea's”
  • Line 11: “claws, carapaces,” “skulls”
  • Line 12: “Time,” “tail”
  • Line 14: “failed far”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “dogfish,” “tossed”
  • Line 6: “touches,” “clutching”
  • Line 8: “jaws,” “gnawn”
  • Line 10: “sea's achievement”
  • Line 11: “Vertebrae,” “carapaces”
  • Line 12: “Time,” “sea eats,” “thrives”

• Synecdoche

  

  

  

  

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  Where synecdoche appears in the poem:

  • Lines 6-9: “And the jaws, / Before they are satisfied or their stretched purpose / Slacken, go down jaws; go gnawn bare. Jaws / Eat and are finished”
  • Lines 15-16: “This curved jawbone did not laugh / But gripped, gripped”

“Relic” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Breakers
• Camaraderie
• Their stretched purpose slacken
• Gnawn
• Vertebrae
• Carapaces
• Spars
• Cenotaph

• (Location in poem: Line 2: “broken by the breakers”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Relic”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Relic” Speaker

“Relic” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Relic”

More “Relic” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Hughes's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.

  • Hughes's Legacy — Watch an event in which contemporary poet Alice Oswald discusses Hughes's work.

  • The Ted Hughes Society — Visit the Ted Hughes Society to learn more about Hughes's work (and his continuing influence).

  • An Interview with Hughes — Listen to a 1961 interview with Ted Hughes and his wife, fellow poet Sylvia Plath. The literary duo discuss their writing and their influence on each other.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Ted Hughes

  • A Memory

  • Anniversary

  • A Picture of Otto

  • Bayonet Charge

  • Cat and Mouse

  • Football at Slack

  • Fulbright Scholars

  • Full Moon and Little Frieda

  • Hawk Roosting

  • Roe-Deer

  • Snowdrop

  • Telegraph Wires

  • The Harvest Moon

  • The Horses

  • The Jaguar

  • The Other

  • The Shot

  • The Thought Fox

  • Wind