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What is the summary and background of "My Own True Family" by Ted Hughes?
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"My Own True Family" by Ted Hughes is a poem about a child who dreams of being captured by an old woman and tied to a stake by oak spirits, who make him promise to plant trees to replace those that are cut down. This dream transforms the child's heart, connecting him deeply with nature. Published in a children's book, it emphasizes humanity's need to connect with the natural world.
It is important to realize that "My Own True Family" is the final poem in Hughes' collection which is a testament to its importance. On the surface level, the poem seems to be a work against deforestation because the child in the poem dreams that he is tied to a stake and must promise to plant trees in order to be set free. In fact, he is told the following: "Whenever you see an oak-tree felled, swear now you will plant two." This dream transforms the boy's heart.
The "summary" of this poem seems fairly simple. A "human child" has a dream in which he meets an old lady who captures him and ties him to "a stake." While tied to the stake, the surrounding oak trees and their "spirits" make the child (the speaker) promise to plant trees. This dream and this subsequent promise connect the speaker to...
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nature and give him the "heart [of] a tree."
Beneath the surface, the poem is much more than an effort against deforestation. It is a confirmation that humanity must connect with the natural world in order to achieve its full potential. This idea is at the core of much of Hughes' literature.
"My Own True Family" was published in a children's book by Ted Hughes called Meet My Family! with illustrations by George Adamson. The first edition of the volume, published on 7 April 1961 by Faber & Faber, did not include "My Own True Family." The poem "My Own True Family" and three other poems were added for a new Puffin Book edition published in August 1977.
The poem is organized into five three-line stanzas rhymed AAA BBB, etc. It is narrated in the first person. As we discover in the final stanza, it is a dream narrative. We receive little information about the narrator other than that the narrator in real life was a "human child."
In the poem, the narrator encounters an old woman who captures the narrator and ties him to a stake. The narrator dreams that his is then surrounded by a staring tribe of oak spirits who make him promise, under the threat of death, that when he sees an oak tree chopped down he will always plant two in its place. When he returns to the waking world, he has a mystical connection to nature, as expressed in the lines:
When I came out of the oakwood, back to human company,
My walk was the walk of a human child, but my heart was a tree.