H is for hawk Flashcards
Context
An extract from Helen Macdonald’s book on experience with grief and the use of falconry to battle it
- about her meeting her hawk for first time
- hawk represents feelings of being out of control
Message
The purpose of the extract is to share the way she started her journey to deal with grief
overall structure
- chronological
- tension building
- line 46 turning
- short sentences
- asyndetic listing
- contrast
contrast
between reaction to first bird is a thing of beauty a tresure from second bird who is described as the ‘wrong bird’ and paired with negative connotations
1st bird- ‘like gold falling through water’
2nd bird ‘ she wailed;great ,awful gouts of a sound’
Line 46
turning point - she doesnt want the bird she was supposed to have she wants the first one. no longer positive or optimistic.
‘it was the wrong bird.”
‘It was the wrong bird.’
short sentences to represent dissapointment
‘Another hinge untied.concentration.’
Short sentences at the beginning to build tension
‘a sudden thump’
onomatepia. builds tension
repetition
‘enormus, enourmus hawk’
emphasizes size and awe
1st bird
positive language
- majority of time spent on
2nd bird
- negative language
- much less time spent
Themes
- anticipation
- hope
- nature
‘like gold falling through water’
meataphor that shows awe and fear
Lang features
- onomatopoeia
- repetition
- pathetic fallacy
- alliteration
-divine imagery
Pathetic fallacy
‘great flood of sunlight drenches us’
shows moment of great clarity
Alliteration
‘barred and beating’
shows the violence of the hawk
‘chaotic clatter’
tension
foreshadowing
“Don’t want you going home with the wrong bird”
Builds tension
Gradual reveal
Long sentences. builds tension as neither the reader or the writer knows whats to come.
“squinted into the dark interior”
abstract nouns
“concentration” and “caution”
To convey how delicate the situation is
“Last few seconds before battle”
metaphor. suggests that their may be conflict
“whirring, chaotic clatter of wings”
The uses of listing and onomtopiea serves to show the chaos and possible danger
change in tense
“its all happening at once” indicates the speed at which everything is going on and gives the reader a sense of urgency
“My heart jumps sideways”
shows the writers apprehension
tone in fourth paragraph
shows the mans calm proffesionalism in contrast to the desperatio of the woman
repetition of “this isn’t my hawk”
emphasises the writers disbelief and dread and conviction about the first bird
questions at the end
conveys writer’s desperation to have the first bird
end of text
“There was a moment of total silence”
cliff hanger reader is left to ponder the outcome
