The speaker in "Wind" is defined by isolation. Although he (assuming it's a he, perhaps a stand-in for Ted Hughes himself) lives in a house with other people, he's mainly presented to us as a tiny human confronted by powers much greater than him (like our pal the wind). We don't get to see his relationships in action, since the wind has an isolating effect—its loudness and the apparent threat it poses prevent the people in the house from interacting with each other. Everyone becomes worried and detached from everything else, their attention totally dominated by the driving wind.
Questions About Isolation
- Is it easier to feel isolated when you're living right in Nature, like in the poem, or when you're living in a place farther from Nature, like a big city? How would the speaker answer that question?
- Does the speaker show us that there are any benefits to isolation? How can you tell?
- What makes the people in this poem so isolated from one another?
Chew on This
This poem demonstrates how a little isolation or seclusion can teach you how to see things (like the wind) in a different way.
Our speaker is proof that being isolated is almost totally a bad thing—it can disturb your mental health.