The Depiction of the Water Lily in the Poem To Paint a Water Lily by Ted Hughes

In "To Paint a Water Lily," the speaker sympathizes with the artist's difficult task to depict the water lily by highlighting the disparity between the lily's gentle, lady like beauty and the menacing, war like characteristics of its surroundings. Figurative language, imagery, and contrast are the main elements that he utilizes to convey this attitude toward nature and the artist's task.

The speaker's description of the lily personifies it into the image of a fine, dainty woman. When describing the worlds above and below the lily, the speaker calls them the "two minds of this lady.

" Furthermore, the speaker calls the artist to “paint the long-necked lily flower” that is "still as a painting, trembling hardly at all." By referring to the lily's contrasting minds, elegant body, and graceful manners the speaker conveys his idea that the lily is like an effortlessly beautiful woman with a distinct character and personality.

Though the lily represents beauty, the violent, creepy worlds that surround it are a direct contrast to the graceful water lily.

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He describes the world above as the “flies' furious arena,” as though the dragonflies are warriors fighting in barbaric Roman battles. Furthermore, he expounds this idea by depicting the dragonflies that "take aim" and "comb the hum" while looking for unsuspecting prey. The speaker extends the combative imagery by noting the sounds that pervade nature, which he describes as "battle-shouts" and "death-cries."

While the world above is chaotic and violent, the speaker says that even "worse is the pond-bed's matter" below the surface of the water.

Some of the daunting sights that exist beneath the surface include creatures that have "jaws for heads, the set stare." When the speaker says the pond's matter "have evolved no improvements there" and are "ignorant of age as of hour," he indicates that the world beneath the lily contains so many terrifying creatures that it is almost as if they are primordial beings from prehistoric times. Although the speaker shows his distaste for both the worlds above and below the lily, his descriptions show that they are equally horrific yet distinct worlds and that the lily exists independently of its incongruous surroundings.

By describing in detail the surroundings of the graceful water lily, the speaker sympathizes with the artist's difficult task. After noting the dragonflies' "battle-shouts" and "death-cries," the speaker continues to say that in a work of art those sounds are “inaudible” and that the spectators can only see the dragonfly's magnificent rainbow-colored bodies and not the chaos that exists in reality.

The difficulty of the artist's task extends into the world below as well because in the final product the world beneath the lily would not be visible to the spectator's eyes. The speaker believes that the artist's task is difficult because experiencing nature includes all of the senses and not just the limited visual perspective that can be portrayed in a painting. While everything around the lily indicates chaos and barbarity, the lily maintains its tranquility regardless of "whatever horror nudge her root."