--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Crow's Nerve Fails by Ted Hughes Crow…" description: "\"“Crow's Nerve Fails by Ted Hughes Crow, feeling his brain slip, Finds his every feather the fossil of a murder. Who murdered all these? These living de..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/374/ted-hughes-8662_crow_crow-s-nerve-fails-by-ted-hughes-crow-fe_2498224.png" --- # Crow's Nerve Fails by Ted Hughes Crow, feeling his brain… ![“Crow's Nerve Fails by Ted Hughes Crow, feeling his brain slip, Finds his every feather the fossil of a murder. Who murdered all these? These living dead, that root in his nerves and his blood Till he is visibly black? How can he fly from his feathers? And why have they homed on him? Is he the…” quote by Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/374/ted-hughes-8662_crow_crow-s-nerve-fails-by-ted-hughes-crow-fe_2498224.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/374/ted-hughes-8662_crow_crow-s-nerve-fails-by-ted-hughes-crow-fe_2498224.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/374/ted-hughes-8662_crow_crow-s-nerve-fails-by-ted-hughes-crow-fe_2498224.png) > ““Crow's Nerve Fails by Ted Hughes Crow, feeling his brain slip, Finds his every feather the fossil of a murder. Who murdered all these? These living dead, that root in his nerves and his blood Till he is visibly black? How can he fly from his feathers? And why have they homed on him? Is he the archive of their accusations? Or their ghostly purpose, their pining vengeance? Or their unforgiven prisoner? He cannot be forgiven. His prison is the earth. Clothed in his conviction, Trying to remember his crimes Heavily he flies.”” [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poem explores a crow’s inner turmoil, guilt, and existential dread, using vivid imagery of feathers as symbols of murder and imprisonment. **In simple terms:** A crow wrestles with guilt and a haunting past. Key Takeaway Confront inner guilt and its lingering shadows. Themes guilt existential dread nature Mood melancholic reflective Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - personal reflection - literary analysis - creative writing - mental health discussions Key Concepts symbolism psychological conflict redemption Questions to Reflect On - What does the crow represent in your own life? - How can confronting guilt lead to personal growth? A Different Perspective The abstract imagery may be too opaque for some readers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) ## Related quotes > [“In the beginning was Scream Who begat Blood Who begat Eye Who begat Fear Who begat Wing Who begat Bone Who begat Granite Who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/in-the-beginning-was-scream-who-begat-blood-who-begat-eye-who-begat/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [I submit my tongue as an instrument of righteousness when I make it bless them that curse me and pray for them who persecute…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dallas-willard/i-submit-my-tongue-as-an-instrument-of-righteousness-when-i-make-it/) [Dallas Willard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dallas-willard/) > [You know, all is development. The principle is perpetually going on. 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Bell won't be ready…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-graham/it-s-a-matter-of-how-the-bullpen-looks-as-to-whether-bell-goes-in/) Wayne Graham > [“music puts me in touch with life's energy and death still hanging like an old crow on the vines of my mind”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hanna-abi-akl/music-puts-me-in-touch-with-life-s-energy-and-death-still-hanging/) [Hanna Abi Akl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hanna-abi-akl/) > [Since the nations founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die but then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/since-the-nations-founding-african-americans-repeatedly-have-been/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [Crows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need of them; but flatterers mar the soul of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/crows-pick-out-the-eyes-of-the-dead-when-the-dead-have-no-longer-need/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [The welfare state has done to Black Americans what slavery (and Jim Crow and racism) could not have done. . .break up the black…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stossel/the-welfare-state-has-done-to-black-americans-what-slavery-and-jim/) [John Stossel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stossel/) > [Here the crow starves, here the patient stag Breeds for the rifle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-stearns-eliot/here-the-crow-starves-here-the-patient-stag-breeds-for-the-rifle/) [Thomas Stearns Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-stearns-eliot/) > [“I pull his hand up to my chest. "It's okay. Some of my best friends are in the mob. It must be really tough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giorge-leedy/i-pull-his-hand-up-to-my-chest-it-s-okay-some-of-my-best-friends-are/) [Giorge Leedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giorge-leedy/) > [“That fucking crow-bodied thing had won. How gleeful it was now. All because he'd wanted to live, forget genius and destiny, and simply be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/that-fucking-crow-bodied-thing-had-won-how-gleeful-it-was-now-all/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) ## More by Ted Hughes > [The only calibration that counts is how much heart people invest, how much they ignore their fears of being hurt or caught out or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/the-only-calibration-that-counts-is-how-much-heart-people-invest-how/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [The inmost spirit of poetry, in other words, is at bottom, in every recorded case, the voice of pain – and the physical body,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/the-inmost-spirit-of-poetry-in-other-words-is-at-bottom-in-every/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [“I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed. Inaction, no falsifying dream Between my hooked head and hooked feet: Or in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/i-sit-in-the-top-of-the-wood-my-eyes-closed-inaction-no-falsifying/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [The world rolls under the long thrust of his heel. Over the cage floor the horizons come.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/the-world-rolls-under-the-long-thrust-of-his-heel-over-the-cage-floor/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [But who is stronger than death? Me , evidently .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/but-who-is-stronger-than-death-me-evidently/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [You are who you choose to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/you-are-who-you-choose-to-be/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [Applause is the beginning of abuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/applause-is-the-beginning-of-abuse/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [Stilled legendary depth: It was as deep as England. It held Pike too immense to stir, so immense and old That past nightfall I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/stilled-legendary-depth-it-was-as-deep-as-england-it-held-pike-too/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [As Popa penetrates deeper into his life, with book after book, it begins to look like a Universe passing through a Universe. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/as-popa-penetrates-deeper-into-his-life-with-book-after-book-it/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [“I had let it all grow. I had supposed It was all OK. Your life Was a liner I voyaged in. Costly education had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/i-had-let-it-all-grow-i-had-supposed-it-was-all-ok-your-life-was-a/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [He could not stand. It was not That he could not thrive, he was born With everything but the will – That can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/he-could-not-stand-it-was-not-that-he-could-not-thrive-he-was-born/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [“If you're all so peaceful up there, how did you get such greedy and cruel ideas?" The dragon was silent for a long time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/if-you-re-all-so-peaceful-up-there-how-did-you-get-such-greedy-and/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [Do as you like with me. I'm your parcel. I have only our address on me. Open me, or readdress me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/do-as-you-like-with-me-i-m-your-parcel-i-have-only-our-address-on-me/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [The real mystery is this strange need. Why can't we just hide it and shut up? Why do we have to blab? Why do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/the-real-mystery-is-this-strange-need-why-can-t-we-just-hide-it-and/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) > [With a sudden sharp hot stink of fox, It enters the dark hole of the head. The window is starless still; the clock ticks,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-hughes/with-a-sudden-sharp-hot-stink-of-fox-it-enters-the-dark-hole-of-the/) [Ted Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) [Explore all 79 Ted Hughes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-hughes/) ## More Crow quotes > [“That fucking crow-bodied thing had won. How gleeful it was now. All because he'd wanted to live, forget genius and destiny, and simply be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/that-fucking-crow-bodied-thing-had-won-how-gleeful-it-was-now-all/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“I pull his hand up to my chest. "It's okay. Some of my best friends are in the mob. It must be really tough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giorge-leedy/i-pull-his-hand-up-to-my-chest-it-s-okay-some-of-my-best-friends-are/) [Giorge Leedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giorge-leedy/) > [Here the crow starves, here the patient stag Breeds for the rifle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-stearns-eliot/here-the-crow-starves-here-the-patient-stag-breeds-for-the-rifle/) [Thomas Stearns Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-stearns-eliot/) > [The welfare state has done to Black Americans what slavery (and Jim Crow and racism) could not have done. . .break up the black…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stossel/the-welfare-state-has-done-to-black-americans-what-slavery-and-jim/) [John Stossel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stossel/) > [Crows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need of them; but flatterers mar the soul of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/crows-pick-out-the-eyes-of-the-dead-when-the-dead-have-no-longer-need/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [Since the nations founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die but then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/since-the-nations-founding-african-americans-repeatedly-have-been/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“music puts me in touch with life's energy and death still hanging like an old crow on the vines of my mind”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hanna-abi-akl/music-puts-me-in-touch-with-life-s-energy-and-death-still-hanging/) [Hanna Abi Akl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hanna-abi-akl/) > [It's a matter of how the bullpen looks as to whether Bell goes in there or Crow goes in there. Bell won't be ready…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-graham/it-s-a-matter-of-how-the-bullpen-looks-as-to-whether-bell-goes-in/) Wayne Graham > [I've always been a really really big Sheryl Crow fan. I just respect what she does in a way that she just remains true…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-voegele/i-ve-always-been-a-really-really-big-sheryl-crow-fan-i-just-respect/) [Kate Voegele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-voegele/) > [I went from an unemployed actor's life to doing stand-up comedy, and that was fortuitous. It's not the usual way the crow flies, going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-tate/i-went-from-an-unemployed-actor-s-life-to-doing-stand-up-comedy-and/) [Catherine Tate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-tate/) > [You cannot be responsible for Jim Crow. You can not be responsible for racism. This is much more a problem for the person exercising…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raoul-peck/you-cannot-be-responsible-for-jim-crow-you-can-not-be-responsible-for/) [Raoul Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raoul-peck/) > [As a southerner born after the epic events of the civil rights movement, I've always wondered how on earth people of good will could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-meacham/as-a-southerner-born-after-the-epic-events-of-the-civil-rights/) [Jon Meacham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-meacham/) > [You know, all is development. The principle is perpetually going on. First, there was nothing, then there was something; then-I forget the next-I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/you-know-all-is-development-the-principle-is-perpetually-going-on/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [I submit my tongue as an instrument of righteousness when I make it bless them that curse me and pray for them who persecute…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dallas-willard/i-submit-my-tongue-as-an-instrument-of-righteousness-when-i-make-it/) [Dallas Willard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dallas-willard/) > [She stood looking carefully at the labeled portraits Ursala had put up: Little Crow, Chief of the Santees, Geronimo, last of the Apaches, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eva-ibbotson/she-stood-looking-carefully-at-the-labeled-portraits-ursala-had-put/) [Eva Ibbotson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eva-ibbotson/) Browse all 426 Crow quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Crow's Nerve Fails by Ted Hughes Crow, feeling his brain slip, Finds his every feather the fossil of a murder. Who murdered all these? These living dead, that root in his nerves and his blood Till he is visibly black? How can he fly from his feathers? And why have they homed on him? Is he the archive of their accusations? Or their ghostly purpose, their pining vengeance? Or their unforgiven prisoner? He cannot be forgiven. His prison is the earth. 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