Ted Hughes' "Crow's Theology" is written as an internal dialogue going on in the mind of a crow. The poem begins with what seems to be the crow's awakening in realizing his own existence. As the poem progresses, it gradually gets darker as the questions he poses get harder and harder to answer. By seeking the truth and tackling the unanswerable, the crow reaches the conclusion that all of what is good and bad is really just one in the same and that religious faith alone does not account for why evil persists.
The crow seems to be representative of the average observer, viewing his/her life and taking note of what is seen. The poem begins with the crow grappling with the idea of God through the personification of individual consciousness, stating "Crow realized God loved him- otherwise, he would have dropped dead" (1-2). This suggests that crow identifies himself as being dependent on some source of life, referred to in this example as a theological "God". He understands his life dependence on this source and understands it to be in unison with himself, as if the two cannot exist without one another. Taking solace in the proof of his existence, the crow "reclined, marvelling, on his heart-beat" (3). This almost seems to mock the quiet contentment experienced by many religious believers who may take a false comfort in the thralls of their blind faith. Hughes challenges this perspective at the end of the poem with an atheistic questioning of where evil comes from, as well as its presence and impact in the realm of reality.
The poem consists of six separate stanzas of varying length, going from four lines to two lines, back to four lines to three lines, to one line and finally ending the poem with a three line stanza. The poem is seventeen lines total, which is interesting because it is an odd number. It is set up in such a way that it feels like an internal dialogue between the crow and his logical reasoning, not following iambic pentameter or sticking to any particular rhyme scheme.
