The Full Text of “Football at Slack”
The Full Text of “Football at Slack”
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“Football at Slack” Introduction
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"Football at Slack," by the English poet Ted Hughes, depicts a group of men playing football (a.k.a. soccer) on a stormy day. Instead of being put off by the wind and rain, the men are awed by nature's majesty and delight in splashing about until the sun returns, seemingly drawn out from behind the clouds by the men's joy. The poem celebrates the power of the human spirit, and it also suggests that there's wonder and beauty to be found even in nature's fury. "Football at Slack" was published in Hughes's 1979 collection, The Remains of Elmet.
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“Football at Slack” Summary
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In the deep spaces between the hills, on a naked stretch of high ground, men dressed in bright colors bounced around just as their ball was bounced around by the wind.
When the windswept ball bounced up into the air, the men, dressed in happy colors, erupted like jets of water in order to hit it with their heads. But the ball was carried off by the wind.
The buoyant men chased after it. The ball kept bouncing all around before getting pinned in place by the wind over a group of trees. The men all yelled at once, and then the wind sent their ball back to them.
Wind pounded down from burning gaps in the sky (perhaps a reference to lightning or to the vivid colors of the sun in gaps between storm clouds) and the hills were growing dark. The storm was trying to amaze the men. Its harsh light was like a crazed artist mixing paints and flinging splatters of darkness. The rain pounded the ground with the force of a machine that presses steel into shape.
Their hair flattened against their scalps, the men splashed around in puddles, sending up glittering droplets of water. Their yells floated up through the air, barely audible above the storm, and the men were cleansed by the rain and happy.
Meanwhile, the hills kept filling with water and sinking, the valleys between them becoming an incredible shade of blue below the storm, which had formed over the Atlantic ocean.
But the men kept jumping, their legs revolving in the air, and the goalkeeper flew across his side.
And eventually the sun—that golden inferno—lifted up the edge of the clouds so that it could watch these men playing their game.
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“Football at Slack” Themes
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The Power of the Human Spirit
“Football at Slack” depicts a group of men playing “football” (i.e., soccer) on a stormy day. Rather than being put off by the strong “winds” and “rain,” the men take enthusiastic pleasure in the weather. Even as the world itself seems to be drowning in the deluge of the storm, the men carry on with their game until the sun returns, drawn out by their merriment. Through its depiction of the men's unflappable delight, the poem celebrates the indomitable strength of the human spirit. It also suggests the value of pleasure, wonder, and play as means of weathering the metaphorical “storms” of life.
The speaker describes a soccer game that has been interrupted by “wind,” “rain,” and darkness. “[M]erry-coloured men” (a reference to their brightly colored uniforms and, perhaps, their happy dispositions) are running after their “ball” as it's blown about by the wind. The storm grows fiercer, winds pummelling down “from fiery holes in heaven” as gloomy darkness sweeps across the hills.
Yet the men don’t seem to resent this interruption to their game. When their ball gets stuck in the trees, for instance, they simply "shout[] together" until the wind blows it back—as though the wind were just another player. They're outright wonderstruck by the storm, in fact, whose swirling winds “awe” them. The speaker treats the storm like an artist wildly mixing paints across the canvas of the sky and tossing about splashes of darkness.
Even when the rain pounds so heavily it's like “a steel press” pressing down on the earth, and when the men’s hair is “plastered” (or completely flattened) against their heads, they still don’t get upset or abandon their game. Instead, they tread “water / to puddle glitter”—that is, stomp through puddles and delight in the scintillating, beautiful splashes thrown up.
The speaker describes these men as “washed and happy”—they’re soaking wet, but they’re still having a good time, refreshed and cleansed rather than beaten down by the storm. Even as the rest of the world seems to sink like a “foundering” ship, the men remain immersed in their game. The players “leap[]” and “bicycle[]” (or kick their legs) and fly through the air. They're animated and lively, undeterred by the “Atlantic depression” (i.e., the storm).
Soon enough, the storm subsides; the speaker describes the sun peeling back "the cloud’s edge to watch them." By this, the poem might be implying that it is the men’s joy that has subdued the storm; the personified sun seems to be so captivated by their happiness that it can’t help but come out to see them play.
The fact that the men recognize but don’t cower to nature’s might reflects the power of the human spirit. Reading the poem metaphorically, “Football at Slack” might also imply that maintaining a sense of pleasure, wonder, and play is essential to enduring the obstacles of life. If one can approach such disruptions with curiosity and awe, the poem suggests, they might even find these difficult moments inspiring.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-10
- Lines 16-18
- Lines 22-25
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The Majesty and Power of Nature
The speaker describes a football (in American English, soccer) game that gets interrupted by intense storm. Seeming to recognize nature’s furious power, the men in this poem don’t fight against the elements but rather allow themselves to be moved and even awed by them. The men’s response to the storm suggests that there’s wonder and beauty to be found even in nature’s fiercest, most frightening moments.
The speaker describes “[w]inds from fiery holes in heaven” wreaking havoc on the game. These “winds” not only blow the players' ball “away downwind,” but they seemingly “bounce[]” the men themselves, as if they were no more than toys for nature to play with. The speaker also describes the “rain” as a “steel press,” suggesting that this storm could very well crush the men beneath it. And at the height of this deluge, it is all these men can do to “tr[ead] water.” Clearly, the players are subject to nature’s whims.
But instead of fighting against or resenting the storm, the men are “awe[d]” by it. They let the wind and rain “pil[e]” (or barrage) them, “plaster[ing]” their “hair” to their heads. And no matter how dangerous and terrifying the storm may be, the speaker presents it as something beautiful. They admire the “glare light” and “glooms” of the turbulent skies as they would the “oils” of a painting. And as the men splash about in the rain, the speaker says they “puddle glitter.” In this way, the poem suggests that even nature’s most terrifying displays of power and violence can be incredible to behold.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 11-15
- Lines 19-21
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Football at Slack”
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Lines 1-3
Between plunging valleys, ...
... blown ball bounced.The poem's title gives readers context for these opening lines: some men are playing "football" (what some countries call soccer) in or near Slack, a village in England.
The poem itself then opens right in the middle of the action: this game takes place "Between plunging valleys, on a bareback of hill" (i.e., a hill with no trees). Referring to this place as the "bareback of hill" subtly personifies the landscape, bringing the natural world to life around the players.
The players, meanwhile, are dressed "in bunting colors." "Bunting" can refer to a small, colorful songbird or to festive, decorative flags; as an adjective, it means that the men are boldly dressed (perhaps in the colors of the British flag).
This is a joyful, energetic game: both these men and the ball they're kicking around are bouncing around the field. Check out the use of diacope/epistrophe in line 3:
Bounced, and their blown ball bounced.
The repetition of "bounced" highlights the relationship between the men and their ball. On the one hand, the men "bounce" simply in the sense that they jump around after their ball. But this line also implies that the men, like the "blown ball," are being "bounced"—that they, too, are being "blown" about by the wind. Both men and ball are playthings for the natural world.
The poem is written in free verse, meaning it does not use a regular meter or rhyme scheme. Instead, Hughes uses sonic devices to evoke the energetic rhythms of this game. Listen, for example, to the striking /b/ alliteration of these lines, which adds an appropriately bouncy rhythm to the poem's first stanza:
Between plunging valleys, on a bareback of hill
Men in bunting colours
Bounced, and their blown ball bounced.Note, too, how the first two lines here are both enjambed. As a result, the poem moves swiftly down the page, subtly mirroring the men's playful energy. The stanza then comes to rest at a reflective full stop in line 3.
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Lines 4-6
The blown ball ...
... blew away downwind— -
Lines 7-10
The rubbery men ...
... ball blew back. -
Lines 11-15
Winds from fiery ...
... a steel press. -
Lines 16-18
Hair plastered, they ...
... washed and happy -
Lines 19-21
While the humped ...
... of Atlantic depression— -
Lines 22-25
But the wingers ...
... to watch them.
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“Football at Slack” Symbols
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The Storm
There is, of course, a literal storm in the poem: swirling winds and driving rains really do interrupt the men's football game. But it's also possible to read this storm as representing dark or difficult moments in life, which have the power to metaphorically crush people under their weight.
The speaker calls attention to this potential symbolism in line 21, referring to the storm as an "Atlantic depression." Literally, this refers to a weather pattern formed over the Atlantic Ocean. Of course, "depression" can also refer to a psychological disorder or general misery. That the world seems to sink and founder under the weight of this "depression" might represent the way people struggle to overcome darkness and obstacles in their life. The footballers, by contrast, embrace the storm, letting themselves be bounced around by its winds and even finding beauty in its fierceness. Read symbolically, this suggests that people must embrace, rather than fight against or cower from, life's hardships.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 6
- Lines 8-9
- Lines 11-21
- Lines 24-25
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“Football at Slack” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
There's quite a bit of alliteration in "Football at Slack," which adds music, rhythm, and moments of emphasis to the poem.
For example, the first three stanzas are filled with bouncy /b/ sounds (primarily as alliteration but also as consonance) that evoke buoyant movements of the "blown ball" and the men running after it. Take a look at lines 1-3, for example:
Between plunging valleys, on a bareback of hill
Men in bunting colours
Bounced, and their blown ball bounced.The alliteration here is unmissable, all those bold /b/s calling readers' attention to the men's—and the ball's—energetic movements. These alliterative /b/ sounds pop up again and again in the next seven lines, in "blown ball," "ball blew," and the tongue-twistery "blown ball blew back." The language feels bright and playful.
In the fourth stanza, however, this /b/ alliteration gets replaced with a variety of other sounds as the storm interrupts the men's game. Take the husky /h/ alliteration in lines 11-12, for instance, which evokes the heavy, huffing winds that tear through the landscape:
Winds from fiery holes in heaven
Piled the hills darkening around themThe next few lines feature throaty /gl/ alliteration and tight-lipped /m/ alliteration, intensifying the poem's language in response to the growing power of the storm:
[...] The glare light
Mixed its mad oils and threw glooms.Notice, too, the /oo/ assonance in "threw glooms," which also adds yet more intensity and emphasis to this image of darkness being violently tossed across the landscape like a splatter of paint.
Thudding assonance and alliteration combine again towards the end of the poem, evoking the "depth" of the storm:
[...] unthinkable
Under the depth of Atlantic depression—Finally, the shared sounds in "goalie" and "golden" and "horizontal" and "holocaust" create a kind of bridge between the last two stanzas of the poem. Readers can envision the football player temporarily suspended in midair, the ferocious sun almost timidly peeking out from behind a cloud to behold him.
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Between,” “bareback”
- Line 2: “bunting”
- Line 3: “Bounced,” “blown,” “ball,” “bounced”
- Line 4: “blown,” “ball,” “merry,” “men”
- Line 6: “ball,” “blew”
- Line 7: “bounced”
- Line 8: “ball”
- Line 10: “blown,” “ball,” “blew,” “back”
- Line 11: “holes,” “heaven”
- Line 12: “hills”
- Line 13: “glare”
- Line 14: “Mixed,” “mad,” “glooms”
- Line 15: “press”
- Line 16: “plastered”
- Line 17: “puddle”
- Line 20: “unthinkable”
- Line 21: “Under,” “depth,” “depression”
- Line 23: “goalie,” “horizontal”
- Line 24: “again,” “golden,” “holocaust”
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Repetition
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Personification
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Imagery
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Metaphor
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Simile
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Enjambment
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"Football at Slack" Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Football
- Slack
- Plunging
- Bunting
- To head it
- Spouted
- Piled
- Glooms
- Glare light
- Steel press
- Plastered
- Trod water
- Puddle
- Humped
- Foundering
- Atlantic depression
- Wingers
- Goalie
- A golden holocaust
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(Location in poem: )
A sport in which players score points by kicking or heading the ball into the opposing team's net. Known as soccer in the U.S.!
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Football at Slack”
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Form
"Football at Slack" consists of 25 lines of free verse spread out over eight stanzas. These stanzas range from two to five lines apiece, gradually building up in length until the poem reaches its midpoint and then tapering down again. Here are the stanza lengths in the order they appear:
- 3
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 3
- 3
- 2
- 2
In this way, the poem's form mimics the rhythm of a storm. Storms often start out being relatively mild (some drizzles and a crack of thunder, perhaps); they then build in intensity as the winds pick up about and the rain pounds down; and, finally, they fade away as the clouds clear and the sun starts to peek out.
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Meter
The poem is written in free verse, meaning it doesn't follow a regular meter. The poem's lines and stanzas vary in length, and this dynamic language subtly reflects nature's unpredictability. A consistent meter might suggest humanity trying to impose order on the storm's chaos, whereas the absence of meter suggests that people must bend and flow along with the rhythms of nature.
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Rhyme Scheme
As a free verse poem, "Football at Slack" doesn't use a rhyme scheme. Where a rhyme scheme would offer clear musicality and a predictable rhythm, the lack of rhyme scheme is more fitting for a poem that details the unpredictability of nature! To the speaker, nature is a powerful and inspiring, if sometimes terrifying, force, and the beauty of these men is that they are embracing its whims rather than struggling against them or running home defeated.
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“Football at Slack” Speaker
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The speaker of this poem is anonymous, genderless, and impartial. They describe the football (a.k.a. soccer) players and the storm that "awe[s]" them, but they themselves aren't actually participating in the sport. For the most part, readers aren't really thinking about the speaker; instead, the poem's focus remains on the scene the speaker is describing.
One might assume that the speaker feels somewhat separate from the men's pleasure; after all, the speaker isn't playing this game and takes care to note the men's camaraderie (they're "all shout[ing] together" and seem "washed and happy"). Perhaps the speaker is part of the "humped world" that seems to be drowning "Under the depth of Atlantic depression." In other words, the speaker might be as curious about (and even envious of) these happy, playful men as the sun that "[l]ift[s] the cloud's edge, to watch them."
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“Football at Slack” Setting
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The poem is set "at Slack," a village in Northeast England. (All of the poems in Remains of Elmet, the book in which this poem was published, deal in some way with the Calder valley, an area close to where Hughes was born.)
In the poem, this place is described as having "plunging valleys," and the football game takes place on a "bareback of hill" (a treeless hilltop). At first, the storm doesn't seem all that treacherous. The wind almost playfully tosses the men's ball about, and the men enthusiastically chase after it.
As the poem continues, however, the wind and rain grow stronger and more chaotic. Winds pummel the earth "from fiery holes in heaven," the speaker says, imagery that feels almost mythological. The speaker also personifies the light of the storm as a crazed painter mixing "its mad oils" and tossing darkness over the landscape.
While the men seem "happy" enough, splashing around in puddles and admiring the storm's beauty and strength, the rest of the world "s[inks] foundering," like a ship that's taken on seawater. The "valleys" are "blued unthinkable," a strange yet vivid phrase that suggests the whole world is growing incredibly murky and wet beneath the storm.
A peek of sunshine appears in the poem's final moments: the speaker describes the personified sun lifting up "the cloud's edge" so that it can "watch" the players. On one level, this imagery suggests that the men's playfulness has drawn the sun out of hiding. But the speaker also calls the sun "a golden holocaust"—a fiery, shining disaster. Nature, the poem makes clear, is a force to be reckoned with.
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Literary and Historical Context of “Football at Slack”
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Literary Context
The English poet Ted Hughes (1930-1998) is considered one of the most important writers of the 20th century. His arrival on the scene with his 1957 debut, The Hawk in the Rain, was a shock to the system of British poetry; Hughes's raw imagery challenged the dominance of more restrained and formal poets like Philip Larkin. To this day, Hughes remains one of the most widely read poets in the English language.
Hughes grew up in West Riding, Yorkshire, a relatively rural part of England, and he cultivated an early interest in the natural world that would influence his poetry. Hughes was both reverent and unsentimental about nature, seeing it not just as a source of wisdom and beauty (as the 19th-century Romantics like William Wordsworth often did), but also as a place full of instinctive violence and danger. Animals also occupy a central role in Hughes's poetry (most famously in the "Crow" series of poems), where they often symbolically reflect the human psyche.
"Football at Slack" was first published in Hughes's 1979 collection, Remains of Elmet. The poems in this collection were written in response to photographs taken by Fay Godwin of the Calder Valley (once known as Elmet), where Hughes lived as a young child.
Historical Context
Hughes wrote in his preface to Remains of Elmet:
The Calder valley, west of Halifax, was the last ditch of Elmet, the last British Celtic kingdom to fall to the Angles. For centuries it was considered a more or less uninhabitable wilderness, a notorious refuge for criminals, a hide-out for refugees. Then in the early 1800s it became the cradle for the Industrial Revolution in textiles, and the upper Calder became ‘the hardest-worked river in England’. Throughout my lifetime, since 1930, I have watched the mills of the region and their attendant chapels die. Within the last fifteen years the end has come. They are now virtually dead, and the population of the valley and the hillsides, so rooted for so long, is changing rapidly.
Remains of Elmet is, in part, a lament for the specific peoples that once inhabited this region and also for a rapidly changing world in general. At the same time, the collection is filled with awe for the way nature has reclaimed many of these spaces people left behind.
Hughes himself was born in Mytholmroyd in Yorkshire, England, in 1930. Much of his work was influenced by the rural landscape of his upbringing. Remains of Elmet also contains many allusions to both world wars. Hughes's father served in WWI, and though Hughes was too young to fight in World War II, he grew up in its shadow. These experiences informed his observations of the natural world, as readers can see in "Football at Slack." For example, even though the word "holocaust" in the final stanza is being used metaphorically, it still might call to mind the genocide of WWII. It adds a dark layer to an otherwise relatively uplifting poem: even in this "happy" moment, the memory of unthinkable violence lingers in the background.
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More “Football at Slack” Resources
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External Resources
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A Ted Hughes Timeline — An in-depth timeline of Hughes's life and work.
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Ted Hughes Society Book Review — Read a review of Hughes's eighth collection of poetry, Remains of Elmet.
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The Landscapes of Elmet — Check out a copy of the collection in which "Football at Slack" was published, which includes original photography by Fay Godwin alongside Hughes's poems.
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Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death — Watch a BBC Documentary that explores the impact Hughes's real-life experiences had on his work.
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The Calder Valley — Peruse photographs of the Calder Valley, where "Football at Slack" (and other poems in Hughes's collection) take place.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Ted Hughes
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