A Rebel's Carnival:A Bakhtinian Reading Of Ted Hughes's Crow

Crow:from the life and songs of the Crow is a mythic poetry collection of Ted Hughes,occupying an unique place in his oeuvre.Beginning with Crow's genesis,the whole collection is a series of narratives recounting the ups and downs during his journey in search of the Creator nature.Since its publication,it has aroused hot debates as to the fractured narrative,grotesque style,ugly image and so on.Various mythological and folktale references also increase the difficulty for understanding.Based on these features,this paper performs a Bakhtinian reading of Crow in light of the carnival theory.Carnivalization is one of the most important theories of Bakhtin.Through carnival characters,carnival language,grotesque realism,the act of crowning and decrowning etc.,the poetry collection challenges the authoritative world,breaking the unshakable seriousness and hierarchy in an atmosphere of humor.Crow resonates with Bakhtin's discussion of carnivalizationThis thesis consists of Introduction,three Chapters and Conclusion.It investigates the carnivalistic features of Crow from three aspects.Chapter One reads the protagonist Crow as the carnival figure in Bakhtin's theory:carnival trickster and carnival king.He functions to mock the Christian world in an atmosphere of humor,and reveals the "joyful relativity"in carnivalization.Chapter Two draws on abundant grotesque images and descriptions of the lower part of the body to point out that Crow expresses the grotesque realism in carnivalization.Chapter Three pays attention to the language of Crow,indicating that Hughes deliberately chooses words and forms to subvert traditional poetic aesthetics,showing carnival spirit of subversion.Drawing on these writing strategies,Hughes creates a carnival sense of the world in which Crow challenges traditional taboos and aesthetics of poetry.Finally,this paper concludes that Crow is a carnivalesque literature which expresses Hughes's dream of an equal and liberal world.