"A Second Glance at a Jaguar." vs "The Jaguar"

In the "A Second Glance at a Jaguar", Hughes narrates the Jaguar in a far greater detail than his first poem "The Jaguar". In his first poem, he emphasized the resilient nature of the Jaguar by contrasting his "wilderness of freedom" with the other, more apathetic, animals. Though the Jaguar is locked behind a cage, Hughes portrayed the Jaguar's stride as a form of rebellion to his captivity.

In the second poem, Hughes maintained the resilient nature of the Jaguar as in the first poem but through a different method. Instead of comparing the Jaguar with the other animals, he uses the details of the Jaguars movement to portray the nature and characteristics of the Jaguar. Hughes uses the words such as "club-swinging, grinding, striding, shoving, swiveling, gangster" to suggest the Jaguar's aggression. However, Hughes also uses statements such as "a terrible, stump-legged waddle, his head is like the worn down stump of another whole jaguar, his body is just the engine shoving it forward, the head dragging forward, the body keeping up, the hind legs lagging" to show the Jaguar's refusal to lose his proud nature even though he is in a cage.

In both poems, the Jaguar is demonstrated as an animal of pride, strength, and highly connected with nature. The Jaguar longs to be back in his natural habitat and refuses to accept his captivity. Hughes demonstrated this idea in two different way: by comparing the Jaguar to the other animals as in poem 1, or by narrating the details of the Jaguar's stride as in poem 2.