The Hug
By Thom Gunn
It was your birthday, we had drunk and dined
Half of the night with our old friend
Who’d showed us in the end
To a bed I reached in one drunk stride.
Already I lay snug,
And drowsy with the wine dozed on one side.I dozed, I slept. My sleep broke on a hug,
Suddenly, from behind,
In which the full lengths of our bodies pressed:
Your instep to my heel,
My shoulder-blades against your chest.It was not sex, but I could feel
The whole strength of your body set,
Or braced, to mine,
And locking me to you
As if we were still twenty-two
When our grand passion had not yet
Become familial.My quick sleep had deleted all
Of intervening time and place.
I only knew
The stay of your secure firm dry embrace.
Summary of The Hug
- Popularity of “The Hug”: The poem “The Hug” by Thom Gunn, a renowned English poet, and writer, is a romantic poetic piece. It was published in 1992 in his collection, The Man with Night Sweats. The poem shows a direction in which a mature love can find its progress and unbound happiness. It also highlights the comfort one receives being in a loyal relationship. Although the poem revolves around the speaker’s personal life experience, yet it gained immense popularity on account of its universal thematic strand.
- “The Hug” As a Representative of Love: This poem centers on a mature couple who find comfort in each other’s company. It begins when the speaker provides intimate detail of his partner’s birthday party in which they dined and drank heavily. Resultantly, they become unable to walk to the room to have a nap. Owing to their drunken state, an old friend transported them to a comfortable space where they slept instantly due to drowsiness. However, the speaker’s deep sleep gets disturbed by a warm hug. He provides vivid detail of the position in which both of them were lying on the bed. As the poem follows, the speaker states that they were not into lovemaking, but they share an unbreakable bond. He simply finds himself locked in a tight heal to shoulder hug with his partner. This romantic moment reminded him of his youth when the two were not familiar with their grand passion for lovemaking.
- Major Themes in “The Hug”: Love, friendship, and memories are the major themes of the poem. The poem sheds light on a memorable incident of the writer’s life. It recollects the joyous moments he spent with his partner on her birthday night. At first, they have a grand celebration with old friends, and later, they enjoy a sound sleep. Sleep disturbed by a tight hug provided him candid and joyous feelings. He feels so lucky surrounded by a lady who owns him, even during sleep. Her polite gesture makes him think of his carefree youth when one seems less familiar with the maturity of love.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in “The Hug”
literary devices create unique and deep meanings in the poem. With the help of these devices, the writers express their ideas clearly and effectively. The analysis of the devices used in the poem is as follows.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /e/ and /o/ in “The whole strength of your body set” and again the sound of /e/ in “The stay of your secure firm dry embrace.”
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /t/ and /w/ in “we were still twenty-two” and /d/ in “had drunk and dined.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /r/ in “The stay of your secure firm dry embrace” and the sound of /s/ in “My shoulder-blades against your chest.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example:
“And locking me to you
As if we were still twenty-two
When our grand passion had not yet
Become familial.”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Thom Gunn has used imagery in this poem such as “It was your birthday, we had drunk and dined”, “Till slowly lowered, his whole face kissed the mud,” and “To a bed I reached in one drunk stride.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different in nature. The poet has used affection as an extended metaphor just to show the intimacy between two lovers.
- Personification: Personification is to give human qualities to inanimate objects. The poet has personified sleep in the last stanza of the poem such as; “Elected Silence, sing to me.”
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The poem shows symbols like love, affection, and togetherness to show how these warm feelings make us feel special.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “The Hug”
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction: The poem shows descriptive diction having rhetoric devices, symbolism, and impressive images.
- Free Verse: Free verse is a type of poetry that does not contain patterns of rhyme or meter. This is a free-verse poem with no strict rhyme or meter.
- Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Here, only the last stanza is a quatrain
- Quintain: A quintain is a five-lined stanza borrowed from French poetry. Here only the second stanza is quintain.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are four stanzas in this poem with each having different lines.
Quotes to be Used
These lines from the poem are useful to quote for lovers while recounting some joyous feelings of their past.
“I dozed, I slept. My sleep broke on a hug,
Suddenly, from behind,
In which the full lengths of our bodies pressed:
Your instep to my heel,
My shoulder-blades against your chest.”