In the poem "Thistles" by Ted Hughes there are a number of different themes and ideas that are put across. George Macbeth, the acclaimed literary critic, has made some very powerful and in-depth comments about the poem. He states that the poem is"praise to the unkillable virtue of heroism" I personally am not sure whether to disagree or agree with this analogy. However I do agree with later comments about Hughes "presenting this quality …showed first 75 words of 991 total…

…showed last 75 words of 991 total…ugliness in the face of natures beauty. To conclude, Macbeth states that the poem is "praise to the unkillable virtue of heroism" I believe that in some ways the poem is this, but I also believe that it is an ode to nature and a plea for the destruction to end. As is neatly summed up in the last line of the poem "Their sons appear, stiff with weapons, fighting back over the same ground."