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The Other
woman until eventually, she was the one left with
SUMMARY nothing—literally; she died, and her haunting presence chipped
away at your stolen abundance.
The speaker, addressing their listener directly throughout as
"you," says that another woman had more than you thought she The poem is based on Hughes's relationship with Assia Wevill,
needed, so you happily helped yourself to a little of all that was the woman for whom he left his first wife, the poet Sylvia Plath;
hers (the speaker never mentions what, exactly, is being taken the “you” is generally interpreted as Wevill and the “her” as
here, but readers can guess they're talking about joy, success, Plath (who died by suicide not long after Hughes moved out of
love, etc.). You didn't have a single thing that she did, so you their shared home). That said, it’s possible to read any number
took some of whatever she had. You didn't take much, at least in of relationships into the poem’s dynamic, and “The Other”
the beginning. ultimately shows how treating life as a kind of zero-sum game,
wherein another’s happiness means the loss of your own, leads
Yet this other woman still had so much that it made you all the
only to misery.
more aware of how much you still didn't have. Evoking
Aristotle's famous declaration that nature hates a vacuum, you The speaker begins the poem by describing the perceived
took from this woman until you were full, justifying that doing imbalance between "you" and a second, “Other” woman. You
so was only natural. She was so fortunate that you felt felt entitled to “some / Of everything” the woman had, the
unfortunate in comparison, and you thus decided to correct the speaker says, because she had “too much.” You justified your
imbalance between the two of you. Some of what she had was theft by presenting it as “redressing,” or righting, “an imbalance.”
all yours now, which seemed like the way it should be. Even so, “At first,” the speaker says, you took “just a little” from this
her drive to succeed upset you, making you feel as useless and woman. But even when you had more than the “nothing” you
overshadowed as words on a page that had been crossed out had to begin with, you still felt a “vacuum” (or void) when
and then carelessly thrown in the trash. The gods, you believed, confronted with this woman's abundance. She “still had so
needed someone to step in and take this woman down a few much,” the speaker says, adding that “Her great lucky made you
pegs. Despising her made you feel a little less anxious. feel unlucky.” You essentially viewed your relationship with this
You gathered up all the things she'd won, and the joy these woman as a competition: whenever she won, you lost—and you
things brought her, and you considered this fair repayment for kept taking from her because you felt owed “compensation.”
the fact that you'd lost. This resulted in her having nothing left. Yet despite helping yourself to “Everything she had won”—her
Her very life itself got tangled up in the pile of things you “luck,” “ambition,” and “happiness”—you continued to resent this
grabbed, leaving her with nothing at all. By the time you woman for her accomplishments. You sought to “correct” her
realized what you'd done, there was nothing you could do to “hubris” (or pride) with “a little hatred,” apparently unable to
stop it. The woman had died, but that didn't change anything. find satisfaction or peace so long as this woman had anything at
You finally had everything that had once been hers, but now all.
you were the one who had more than you needed. You were
Your envy grew so ravenous that it eventually left the woman
the only person who could see her happily taking back what you
with “absolutely nothing,” her “life” itself “Trapped in the heap”
stole from her. She didn't take much, at least in the beginning.
(or pile) of things that you took from her. And by the time you
realized the consequences of your actions, the speaker says, it
was “Too late.” The other woman was dead, and the tables had
THEMES reversed: you were the one with "too much" and the other
woman began to take something back (the implication being
THE DESTRUCTIVE NATURE OF ENVY that her haunting presence made it impossible to enjoy the
AND ENTITLEMENT things you'd stolen).
"The Other" illustrates the self-destructive potential Hughes is alluding to the fact that Plath became very famous
of unchecked envy, comparison, and entitlement. The speaker after her death and that her memory haunted Wevill, who also
tells a story about the relationship between “you” and a woman died by suicide six years after Plath did. More broadly, however,
whose “great luck” you envied. Having “Absolutely nothing” the poem paints a disturbing portrait of how destructive envy
yourself, you felt it “only fair” to take “some. / Of everything she and entitlement can be, suggesting the danger of constantly
had.” Rather than being satisfied, however, this theft (of measuring your life and happiness against someone else's.
happiness, good fortune, etc.) only made you all the more aware
of your own life’s comparative lack. You took and took from this

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Diacope (the repetition of "She had" / "had") adds rhythm to
Where this theme appears in the poem:
the poem and also feels a little claustrophobic, as though your
• Lines 1-29 envy for what the woman ate away at the space between the
two of you.
Meanwhile, epistrophe (the repetition of "you took some" at
LINE-BY
LINE-BY-LINE
-LINE ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS the ends of lines 1 and 3) suggests that this taking was hardly a
one-time thing. The repetition implies a pattern; you took and
LINES 1-4 took from this woman. Indeed, in line 4, the speaker says that
She had too ... "At first," you took "just a little." The qualifier "At first" implies
... just a little. that you would go on to take far more than "just a little."

"The Other" begins with an anonymous speaker addressing a In terms of form, notice how short this first stanza is in
second person directly. This opening is fairly vague: the reader comparison to the subsequent two. This gives the poem's
doesn't know who "she" or "you" is nor what their relationship opening stanza an introductory feel; the fourth line feels like a
to each other might be (nor what their relationship to the springboard into the rest of the poem. The poet's use of free
speaker is). There's also no explanation as to what this "she" verse creates a conversational and intimate tone
tone, which is
had "too much" of, which suggests that the exact nature of this fitting considering the speaker is addressing someone they
"too much" doesn't particularly matter; as the poem goes on, seem to know an awful lot about.
readers will get the sense that the "you" of the poem would Finally, a note on the poem's context: given that this poem
never be happy so long as "she" had anything at all. appears in a collection inspired by Hughes's relationship with
Listen to how the sibilance here adds a smooth hush to the the poet Assia Wevill, many readers take "she" as Sylvia Plath,
opening line, perhaps suggesting the delicateness and stealth "you" as the Wevill, and the speaker as Hughes himself. In this
with which "you" took "some," smiling all the while: reading, Wevill is envious of Plath's relationship with Hughes,
her poetic skill and ambition, and so forth. While this context
She had too much so with a smile you took some. helps to ground the poem's ambiguous language, readers
should note that it's not strictly necessary to interpret the
That "smile" might suggest deception—that you pretended to characters this way (indeed, if one didn't know this context, it
be close to the woman's while stealing from her—or perhaps it might sound like the speaker is talking to themselves).
simply shows that you were pleased with yourself for this theft. LINES 5-7
Line 2 then begins with a preposition, which might make it Still she had ...
sound like a continuation of line 1 ("you took some / Of ... for nature's sake.
everything she had"). Except, line 1 is firmly end-stopped with a
period. Line 2 is thus really the start of a new clause; it means Although you took "some" of "everything" this other woman
something more like, "You had none of the things she had." had, it wasn't enough. The woman "Still" had too much, and this
made you "feel" your own "vacuum." A "vacuum" is an empty
The line would read more clearly had Hughes written, "Of space, so the speaker is saying that this woman's abundance
everything she had, you had absolutely nothing"—but, of reminded you of how much you still lacked.
course, Hughes didn't write it this way! Instead, he's
Notice the allusion
allusion/idiom
idiom in line 6:
deliberately toying with syntax here to make the lines of the
poem run together, blurring the poetic distance between this
other woman and "you." Your vacuum, which nature abhorred,

The enjambment across lines 2-3 ("you had / Absolutely The phrase "nature abhors a vacuum" is attributed to Aristotle,
nothing") adds to the effect, keeping the poem feeling slippery who argued that empty spaces go against the laws of
and disjointed. In starting line 3 with the phrase "Absolutely nature—and that nature will therefore quickly fill any empty
nothing," enjambment also calls attention to the vast chasm space with surrounding matter. Nowadays the phrase is
between these two people's experiences: whereas "she" had sometimes used idiomatically to mean that any absence will
"everything," the person the speaker is addressing had nothing soon be filled.
at all.
The speaker goes on to say that, due to this truth of "nature,"
Notice the repetition in lines 1-3: you "took your fill" (or took as much as you wanted) "for
nature's sake" (that is, on nature's behalf).
She had too much so with a smile you took some
some.
Of everything she had you had Polyptoton (the repetition of "nature" / "nature's") suggests
Absolutely nothing, so you took some
some. that the speaker is being ironic
ironic. You weren't acting on behalf of

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nature at all, but rather on behalf of your own selfish desires. about not being enough, about not being as "luck[y]" or as
"ambitio[us]" as this woman, by hating her. Taking from her was
LINES 8-13 a way of making yourself feel more valuable and powerful.
Because her great ...
... into a basket. LINES 17-22
In line 8, the speaker says that the woman's "great luck made Everything she had ...
you feel unlucky." Polyptoton (the repetition of the root word ... She had nothing.
"luck") highlights the contrast between your emptiness and the The speaker says that you also viewed your relationship with
woman's abundance. Again, you kept measuring your own life this woman as a kind of competition or game—one that you'd
against this woman's—and apparently coming up short. "lost." As "compensation," you felt entitled to "Everything she
You thus felt it was "only fair" to correct (or "redress") the had won"—all the way down to the "happiness" her
balance" between you two. The speaker's tone here comes metaphorical winnings brought her.
across as mocking and derisive; the speaker thinks little of the This is a major escalation from the first stanza, where you took
assertion that life must always be "fair." "just a little." Having gotten a taste for this woman's life,
Even when "you had some" for yourself, the speaker continues, apparently, you decided to devour her whole; it seemed you
you weren't satisfied. On the contrary, however, the woman's would never be satisfied so long as this woman had anything at
"ambition" was still so great that it "Claimed the natural right to all. The word "collected" also makes you sound like a cold-
screw you up." It sounds like you felt the whole world was out to hearted debtor or bill collector, as though the theft of joy could
get you. be considered mere reimbursement. The sharp /c/ sound also
chimes with "ccompensation," this alliter
alliteration
ation adding an icy
Witnessing this woman's drive and talent made you feel "Like a
crispness to the line.
crossed-out page, tossed into a basket." This simile reveals that
you felt inconsequential in comparison to this woman. Despite Yet this unchecked envy, the speaker reveals, had major
all you'd taken from her, you still felt like nothing more than consequences. This woman was left with "absolutely / Nothing,"
some scribbles that were crossed out and then thrown away a phrase that deliberately echoes the poem's first stanza:
like trash.
Of everything she had you had
The mention of writing here brings to mind the poem's context:
Absolutely nothing, so you took some.
both Assia Wevill (again, usually interpreted as the "you" here)
and Sylvia Plath (the other woman) were poets. If readers
This repetition emphasizes how the roles became reversed:
interpret the poem as being biographical, then Hughes is
now you were the one with "everything."
scathingly implying that Wevill wasn't satisfied at having
"taken" Plath's husband; she wanted her talent and success as a In fact, the speaker says that "Even [the woman's] life was /
writer, too. Trapped in the heap" of things that you stole. It isn't yet clear
whether the speaker means this literally or metaphorically, but
LINES 14-16 either way, the point is that this person has gone too far.
Somebody, on behalf ... The emphatic repetition of the word "Nothing" in lines 21 and
... steadied the nerves. 22 suggests the speaker's disgust and anger with this turn of
After saying that the woman's "ambition" made you feel as if events:
you still had nothing, the speaker says:
Nothing
Nothing. Even her life was
Somebody, on behalf of the gods, Trapped in the heap you took. She had nothing
nothing.
Had to correct that hubris.
Notice, too, how lines 18-22 are all enjambed
enjambed:
Basically, you felt it was your duty to cut the woman down to
size—to humble her. You collected
As your compensation
Again, though, the speaker's tone is mocking and ironic
ironic. The
For having lost. Which left her absolutely
dramatic phrase "on behalf of the gods" implies that you were
Nothing
Nothing. Even her life was
just as arrogant as (if not more arrogant than) this woman. The
Trapped in the heap you took. She had nothing.
real problem, the poem implies, was your "hubris" in believing it
was your divine right to "correct" this woman.
This lends the poem a sensation of hectic momentum, which
The then speaker says that "A little touch of hatred steadied the subtly echoes the way that this person's envy and entitlement
nerves." In other words, you found relief from your anxieties

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grew out of hand. It also adds weight to the end-stopped "She her memory (and the memory of what "you" did to her) that
had nothing" in line 22, emphasizing the finality of her then "took." The implication is that guilt gradually ate away at
deprivation. you, leaving you unable to enjoy all that you stole. This woman
couldn't literally "smile" in death, of course, but the speaker
LINES 23-26 implies that she would have been pleased to know how she held
Too late you ... power even from beyond the grave. Despite losing everything,
... much too much. it's almost as though she still won in the end.
By the time you'd realized what you'd done, the speaker says, it In the poem's final line, the speaker then repeats the language
was "Too late": the woman was already "dead." from the end of the first stanza word-for-word, emphasizing
The speaker never spells out what happened directly, but this is how the roles reversed:
almost certainly an allusion to Plath's life: she died by suicide a
few months after Hughes left her for Wevill. The poem frames At first, just a little.
this death as the result of her life being metaphorically stolen
from her (in real life, things were more complicated). This repetition implies that the cycle repeated itself—and that
the same fate awaited the person the speaker addresses. The
The thudding /d/ alliter
alliteration
ation in "d
difference" and "d
dead" in line
poem thus ends on a deeply ironic note: in stealing this
24 adds weight to this moment. Adding to the tragedy here is
woman's life, you also stole her tragic fate.
the implication that you hadn't meant for the woman to die. You
were so caught up in comparing yourself with this woman and This ending is made more powerful by the poem's context:
trying to take what she had, the poem implies, that you perhaps Wevill died by suicide six years after Plath did, in part because
never really considered what this theft would do to her. You she felt haunted by Plath's presence in her life (she was living
hadn't thought of her as a real person, only as a measuring stick with Hughes and mothering his and Plath's children).
for your own worth. Remember, however, that if the "you" of this poem is meant to
The speaker then says: be Wevill and the "she" is Plath, then the speaker must be
Hughes himself—yet the poem conspicuously doesn't implicate
Now that you had all she had ever had the speaker in these events at all. In real life, Hughes wasn't
You had much too much. exactly a passive observer (i.e., Wevill didn't "take" him from
Plath; he left willingly). In remaining invisible in the poem, the
Diacope (the repetition of "had" and "much" in these lines) adds speaker lends their re-telling of events an air of objective
an intense, claustrophobic rhythm to these lines. Everything authority that doesn't necessarily reflect the historical truth of
that you had been so desperately envious of was now things.
yours—but now it was "too much!" Having taken someone's life, Of course, given that the poem doesn't name names, it isn't
you felt guilty and haunted by her memory. necessary to limit its scope to the events that inspired it.
Instead, it can be read more generally as a warning against envy
LINES 27-29 and entitlement, which, here, completely destroy both
Only you ... characters' lives.
... just a little.
The poem's final lines emphasize your guilt even more directly.
But first, notice how there's a vast white space on the page POETIC DEVICES
before "Only you" appears in line 27:
REPETITION
• This space might evoke the woman's absence, Repetition plays an important role in "The Other." On one level,
allowing her death to really sink in. it emphasizes the fact that the person the speaker is addressing
• This space also draws out the poem's final moments, is never satisfied; the poem's repetitive language reflects this
creating a dramatic pause before the reader finds person's repetitive taking from the "woman" they so envy.
out what the future held for the person the speaker
For example, listen to the epistrophe and diacope in lines 1-3:
is addressing.
• Finally, having "Only you" isolated on the far right
She had too much so with a smile you took some
some.
margin of the page reflects this person's isolation
after essentially destroying the woman against Of everything she had you had
whom they measured their entire life. Absolutely nothing, so you took some
some.

Because the woman was "dead," this passage implies that it was Epistrophe (the repetition of "you took some") emphasizes this

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continual theft; this isn't something that happened just one
time! Rather, they "took some" again and again. The diacope of • Line 29: “At first, just a little.”
"had," meanwhile, emphasizes the way that this person keeps
comparing themselves to the other woman, measuring ENJAMBMENT
whatever they "had" against whatever she "had."
The poem's many enjambed lines work alongside end-stopped
The polyptoton in line 8 works similarly, calling attention to the lines to control the poem's pace, by turns speeding it up and
zero-sum relationship between these people. That is, the first slowing it down. At times, enjambment also evokes the frantic,
person feels like only one of them can have luck, happiness, relentless nature of the person the speaker address's envy.
success, etc. at a time: For example, the clear enjambment of line 2 ("had / Absolutely
nothing") adds a burst of momentum to the poem, pushing the
Because her great luck made you feel unlucky reader over the line break. This evokes the energy and force
with which "you took some," and it also calls readers' attention
The repetition of the root word "luck" highlights the perceived to the phrase "Absolutely nothing" by placing it at the beginning
imbalance between these people. of line 3. Enjambment thus emphasizes both this person's
The speaker also repeats language more broadly across the eagerness to take and their sense of lack.
poem. Most obviously, the first and final stanzas feature similar Elsewhere, enjambment draws the poem out, splitting lines up
or outright identical language in spots: in a way that makes the poem visually longer on the page and
evokes the gradual yet steady theft that's happening. Look at
She had too much so with a smile you took some. lines 18-22, for example. Here, a long string of enjambed lines
[...] creates a kind of snowball effect. That is, it's as though the
Absolutely nothing
nothing, so you took some
some. poem is relentless rolling down the page, collecting speed and
At first, just a little. pieces of this other woman's life as it goes:
[...] Which left her absolutely
Nothing
Nothing. Even her life was You collected
Trapped in the heap you took. She had nothing
nothing. As your compensation
[...] For having lost. Which left her absolutely
You had much too much much. Nothing
Nothing. Even her life was
Only you Trapped in the heap you took. She had nothing.
Saw her smile
smile, as she took some
some.
At first, just a little. All those enjambments make the end-stopped "She had
nothing" land with firm finality.
The repetition of "had too much," "absolutely nothing," "smile,"
Likewise, the periods at the ends of the subsequent two lines
and "at first, just a little" all reflect the reversal that happens
leave no room for argument:
between these two people: the woman who was stolen from in
turn becomes the thief (of "happiness," "ambition," "life," etc.).
Too late you saw what had happened.
It made no difference that she was dead.
Where Repetition appears in the poem:
• Line 1: “She had too much,” “smile,” “you took some.” Coming on the heels of so much enjambment, these three end-
• Line 2: “she had you had” stopped lines in a row feel all the more emphatic.
• Line 3: “Absolutely nothing,” “you took some.”
• Line 4: “At first, just a little.” Where Enjambment appears in the poem:
• Line 5: “she had so much”
• Line 6: “nature” • Lines 2-3: “had / Absolutely”
• Line 7: “nature's” • Lines 5-6: “feel / Your”
• Line 8: “luck,” “unlucky” • Lines 8-9: “unlucky / You”
• Line 20: “absolutely” • Lines 9-10: “meant / Now”
• Line 21: “Nothing” • Lines 11-12: “ambition / Claimed”
• Line 22: “nothing” • Lines 12-13: “up / Like”
• Line 25: “you ,” “had,” “had,” “had” • Lines 18-19: “collected / As”
• Line 26: “You had much too much” • Lines 19-20: “compensation / For”
• Line 28: “smile,” “she took some.” • Lines 20-21: “absolutely / Nothing”
• Lines 21-22: “was / Trapped”

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have so little.
• Lines 25-26: “had / You” Yet the phrase "for nature's sake" suggests that the speaker is
• Lines 27-28: “you / Saw” being sarcastic rather than serious; they don't really think that
this person is acting on behalf of "nature." In reality, they're only
SIMILE acting out of their own selfish desires.
The poem uses a simile in lines 11-13 to illustrate the person Similarly, in lines 14-15, the speaker says:
the speaker address's feelings of envy and inadequacy. The
speaker says: Somebody, on behalf of the gods,
Had to correct that hubris.
[...] Still her ambition
Claimed the natural right to screw you up Again, the speaker is being sarcastic; this person is of course
Lik
Likee a crossed-out page, tossed into a bask
basket.
et. not acting "on behalf of the gods," but rather on behalf of their
own insecurities and desires. In pretending to have some divine
This simile suggests that this person is so envious of the other mission, it's really the person the speaker addresses who's
woman's "ambition" that even after taking their "fill" (or as displaying hubris here.
much as they wanted) from her, they still feel worthless in
There's also some situational iron
ironyy in the poem's final moments.
comparison. The image of a scribbled-out "page" implies that
The person who starts the poem with "absolutely nothing" ends
this person feels like a mistake; the image of the paper thrown
it with "too much." They've taken everything they wanted, but,
into the bin suggests they feel like trash. The only way for them
ironically, everything they took will prove to be their downfall.
to feel like they have something, it seems, is to rid this woman
The poem's final lines echo its opening stanza, implying that the
of her aspirations and talent, to bring her down to their level.
same fate that befell the woman now awaits the person whom
The use of a simile is particularly noticeable here because the the speaker addresses: the woman will take and take from this
poem otherwise steers away from figurfigurativ
ativee language or much person (in the sense that her memory will haunt them) until
specificity of any kind. These lines are the closest the reader they, too, are left with nothing.
gets to understanding this person's motives (or what the
speaker assumes this person's motives are, as this person is not Where Iron
Ironyy appears in the poem:
given the opportunity to speak for themselves).
• Lines 5-7: “Still she had so much she made you feel /
The image of a "crossed-out page" might also be read as a
Your vacuum, which nature abhorred, / So you took your
subtle allusion to the fact that Assia Wevill and Sylvia Plath, the
fill, for nature's sake.”
women this poem was written about, were both poets. The
• Lines 14-15: “Somebody, on behalf of the gods, / Had to
poem perhaps hints that Wevill may have been jealous not only
correct that hubris.”
of Plath's life with Hughes, but also of her literary talent. • Lines 23-29: “Too late you saw what had happened. / It
made no difference that she was dead. / Now that you
Where Simile appears in the poem: had all she had ever had / You had much too much. /
• Lines 11-13: “Still her ambition / Claimed the natural Only you / Saw her smile, as
right to screw you up / Like a crossed-out page, tossed she took some. / At first, just a little.”
into a basket.”
ALLITERATION
IRONY Alliter
Alliteration
ation adds intensity and emphasis to "The Other."
The speaker's use of verbal iron
ironyy adds to the poem's mocking, In the first stanza, for example, /s/ alliteration (along with more
derisive tone. In lines 5-7, for example, the speaker says: general sibilance
sibilance) highlights the smoothness with which the
"you" begins to steal from the other woman's life. Here is the
Still she had so much she made you feel first line:
Your vacuum, which nature abhorred,
So you took your fill, for nature's sake. She had too much so with a smile you took some.

This is an allusion to the phrase"nature abhors a vacuum," This sibilance might also call to mind the hissing of a snake, a
which is attributed to Aristotle and means that nature will classic symbol of deception and temptation. All these /s/ sounds
always try to fill empty spaces. The speaker is saying that this thus seem to reflect the duplicitous, envious nature of this
person justifies their theft through the idea that it goes against person, who "smiles" while they steal. There's quite a bit of
the laws of nature for this woman to have so much while they sibilance throughout the second stanza as well, again implying

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just how sneaky and threatening this person is.
Later, in lines 15-16, /h/ alliteration highlights this person's
FORM, METER, & RHYME
feelings about the more successful woman they're stealing FORM
from:
"The Other" is a free vverse
erse poem whose 29 lines are divided
Had to correct that hubris. into three stanzas of varying lengths. It doesn't follow any
A little touch of hatred steadied the nerves. regular poetic form and instead feels intimate and
conversational.
These breathy /h/ sounds might evoke this person's huffiness The first stanza has 4 lines and feels introductory in nature, the
or haughtiness. The alliteration also subtly links the woman's second stanza has 12 lines and the third has 13. The number 13
"h
hubris" (or excessive pride) with this person's "h
hatred." is often considered unlucky, and the 13-line stanza might subtly
Alliteration combines with assonance in lines 18-19 reflect the character of the "unlucky" person the speaker is
("co
collected" and "co
compensation"), that crisp /c/ sound adding addressing. Note, too, that there's a large gap of white space
some emphatic bite to the line. between line 26 ("You had too much.") and line 27 ("Only you").
This space creates a pause, a moment of dramatic anticipation,
The liquid /l/ sounds in line 20, meanwhile, draw readers' before the speaker delivers the final lines' twist.
attention to the apparently inevitable imbalance between these
people. One's gain results always in the other's loss; "you" take METER
things as "compensation / For having lost," but this means that The poem is written in free vverse
erse, so it doesn't follow a regular
the other women is "lleft" with nothing. meter
meter. Instead, its rhythms are casual and conversational. This
makes sense, given that the speaker is addressing a listener
Where Alliter
Alliteration
ation appears in the poem: ("you") directly. Meter would likely have made the poem sound
• Line 1: “so,” “smile,” “some” overly formal and stiff, whereas free verse makes the poem feel
• Line 3: “so,” “some” more intimate.
• Line 5: “Still,” “so” That said, the poem still sounds distinctly poetic. Hughes
• Line 7: “So,” “sake” creates music here not through meter but through devices
• Line 10: “some” such as enjambment and repetition
repetition, which allow the poem to
• Line 11: “seemed,” “Still” feel intense even while the language feels ordinary.
• Line 12: “screw”
• Line 14: “Somebody” RHYME SCHEME
• Line 15: “Had,” “hubris” As a free vverse
erse poem, "The Other" doesn't use a rh
rhyme
yme scheme
scheme.
• Line 16: “hatred,” “steadied” A rhyme scheme would likely have made the poem sound more
• Line 18: “collected” pleasantly musical, predictable, and formal. The lack of rhyme,
• Line 19: “compensation” by contrast, just makes the poem feel more personal, as though
• Line 20: “lost,” “left” the speaker is speaking directly to this other person rather than
• Line 24: “difference,” “dead” performing for an audience.
• Line 28: “Saw,” “smile,” “some”

SPEAKER
VOCABULARY The poem's speaker is anonymous, genderless, and apparently
Vacuum (Lines 5-6) - Emptiness, lack, void. omniscient. They seem to know everything there is to know
about the relationship between the person they're directly
Abhorred (Line 6) - Hated. This is an allusion to the phrase addressing ("you") and the woman this person envies. From the
"nature abhors a vacuum," which is attributed to Aristotle. text alone, it isn't clear what this speaker's relationship to these
Took your fill (Line 7) - Took as much as you wanted. two people is, and, in fact, it is quite possible to read the "you" in
Redressed (Line 9) - Made right; corrected. the poem as the speaker addressing themselves.
Hubris (Line 15) - Excessive arrogance or pride. While the poem itself doesn't give anything away about its
speaker, context suggests that it's Hughes himself. Hughes
included "The Other" in Capriccio," a collection that deals with
his relationship with Assia Wevill. Hughes left his first wife, the
poet Sylvia Plath, for Wevill, and Plath died by suicide a few
months later. Because of this, the poem is commonly

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interpreted to be about Wevill and Plath's relationship, with the contributing factor (Plath supposedly knew Wevill was
"you" of the poem being Wevill and the "other" being Plath. pregnant by Hughes, a pregnancy Wevill aborted after Plath's
(Note that while the speaker presents themselves as an death). This fact loomed over the rest of Hughes's and Wevill's
objective narrator of events, things were undoubtedly more relationship.
complicated in real life.)
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
In 1961, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath moved from London to a
SETTING small country village in Devon, England. They let their London
flat to David and Assia Wevill, a pair of poets they soon invited
The poem doesn't have a physical setting at all. Instead, it for a weekend at their house in Devon. Hughes and Wevill
focuses entirely on the relationship between the person the struck up an affair soon afterward.
speaker is addressing and the woman whose happiness and
success this person envies. In fact, the poem is noticeably Plath quickly caught on to what was happening and kicked
lacking in imagery of any kind, which is pretty unusual for a Hughes out of the house. Hughes spent the next few months
Hughes poem; Hughes is famous for his imagery-driven poems going back and forth between the two women, trying to win
about nature and animals. Plath back even while continuing to pursue Wevill. Hughes
ultimately refused to end things with Wevill, and he left Plath to
The lack of setting emphasizes the tunnel vision created by this be with her in London. Plath moved the family to London two
person's incredible envy. It's as if they're incapable of seeing months later, and, on February 11, 1963, she ended her own
what's around them because they're so focused on what they life.
don't have. But even after they've taken "some. / Of everything"
this other woman has, this person still feels empty and Wevill had, for all intents and purposes, taken "Everything
"unlucky." No matter how much they steal from her, they aren't [Plath] had won, the happiness of it." She had her husband; she
satisfied. The lack of setting, then, seems to reflect this person's took over Plath's role as mother to his and Sylvia's children; she
"vacuum"—the deep sense of emptiness that drives them to lived with Hughes in the house he and Sylvia had lived in; and
hate and steal from this other woman. for some time, she and Hughes were apparently happy
together in spite of Plath's death.
But Hughes continued to have affairs (in fact, he was in bed
CONTEXT with another woman, Susan Alliston, the night Plath killed
herself, and continued this affair even while promising WWeevill
LITERARY CONTEXT that "no other women exist"). He grew more and more distant
The English poet Ted Hughes (1930-1998) is considered one of from Wevill. They had a child, Shura, together, but a family
the most important writers of the 20th century. His arrival on friend observ
observed
ed that Hughes didn't treat her with the same
the scene with his 1957 debut, The Hawk in the Rain, was a affection and pride as he did his children with Plath—in fact, she
shock to the system of British poetry; Hughes's raw imagery says he didn't give "any indication that [Shura] was his
challenged the dominance of more restrained and formal poets daughter."
like Philip Larkin
Larkin. To this day, Hughes remains one of the most Wevill had apparently stak
staked
ed her happiness on a life with
widely read poets in the English language. Hughes, and when it became apparent that he was never going
Hughes grew up in West Riding, Yorkshire, a relatively rural to marry her, she decided to end her life. Afraid that her four-
part of England, and he cultivated an early interest in the year-old daughter would be neglected by Hughes or else sent
natural world that would influence his poetry. Hughes was both to a foster home, Wevill decided the merciful thing to do was to
reverent and unsentimental about nature, seeing it not just as a take Shura with her. In March of 1969, Wevill fed her daughter
source of wisdom and beauty (as the 19th-century Romantics sleeping pills and then turned on the gas oven. In her suicide
like William WWordsworth
ordsworth often did), but also as a place full of note, she wrote that "the ghost of Sylvia was making [her]
instinctiv
instinctivee violence and danger. Animals also occupy a central suicidal," something "The Other" hints at in its final lines.
role in Hughes's poetry (most famously in the "Crow
Crow" series of
poems), where they often symbolically reflect the human
psyche. MORE RESOUR
RESOURCES
CES
"The Other" was published in Hughes's 1990 collection EXTERNAL RESOURCES
Capriccio. The poems in this collection revolve around Hughes's
• The TTed
ed Hughes Society's Re
Review
view of Capriccio — A
relationship with Assia Wevill, the woman for whom he left his
thoughtful examination of what makes Capriccio, the
wife, the poet Sylvia Plath, in 1962. Plath died by suicide the
collection in which "The Other" was published, one of
following year, with Hughes's and Wevill's affair being a
Hughes's most intriguing books.

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 Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com
(http:/
(http:///thetedhughessociety
thetedhughessociety.org/capriccio
.org/capriccio)) • Relic
• Roe-Deer
• Assia W
Weevill, T
Ted
ed Hughes, and Sylvia Plath — An in-depth • Snowdrop
look at Wevill's background and her relationship to Ted • Telegr
elegraph
aph Wires
Hughes and Sylvia Plath. (https:/
(https:///medium.com/lifes- • The Harv
Harvest
est Moon
writes/she-wanted-to-be-sylvia-plath-but-instead-killed- • The Jaguar
herself-and-her-daughter-35f6e045c6f4) • The Thought FFo
ox
• Fact vs. Fiction — This Guardian article, titled "Written out • Wind
of history," examines the contradictions between the
events surrounding Hughes's relationship with Wevill and
the way Hughes later portrayed these events in his work. HOW T
TO
O CITE
(https:/
(https://www
/www.theguardian.com/books/2006/oct/19/
.theguardian.com/books/2006/oct/19/
biogr
biograph
aphyy.tedhughes) MLA
• The P
Poet's
oet's Life and W
Work
ork — A Poetry Foundation Mottram, Darla. "The Other." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 8 Feb 2022.
biography of Hughes. (https:/
(https://www
/www.poetryfoundation.org/
.poetryfoundation.org/ Web. 7 Apr 2022.
poets/ted-hughes)
CHICAGO MANUAL
LITCHARTS ON OTHER TED HUGHES POEMS Mottram, Darla. "The Other." LitCharts LLC, February 8, 2022.
• A Picture of Otto Retrieved April 7, 2022. https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/ted-
• Ba
Bayyonet Charge hughes/the-other.
• Cat and Mouse
• Football at Slack
• Ha
Hawk
wk Roosting

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