H is for Hawk- Helen macdonald Flashcards
Imagery (Sensory & Visual)
“She came out like a punch from above.”
“A reptile. A fallen angel.”
Effect: Vivid, intense images make the hawk feel mysterious, dangerous, and majestic.
Appeals to the senses, especially sight and touch, enhancing the reader’s connection to the moment.
Metaphor & Simile
“She was a conjuring trick.”
“She was like a turkey in a butcher’s shop window.”
Effect: Captures the hawk’s power, otherworldliness, and the strangeness of the encounter.
Metaphors give the hawk mythical and symbolic significance, reflecting Macdonald’s emotional state.
Alliteration
“Sudden, strange, and alien.”
“Barred and beating wings.”
Effect: Adds rhythm and emphasis, drawing attention to key descriptions.
Enhances the musical quality of the prose, creating a more vivid and lyrical tone.
Short Sentences / Sentence Fragments
“Oh.”
“My heart jumps sideways.”
Effect: Conveys shock, immediacy, and emotion.
Mimics natural speech and thought, showing Macdonald’s awe and vulnerability.
First-person Narrative
“I was standing…” / “I watched as…”
Effect: Makes the experience personal and emotional.
Helps the reader experience the hawk’s arrival through her eyes, enhancing intimacy.
Emotive Language
“She was a conjuring trick. A reptile. A fallen angel.”
Effect: Expresses the depth of her emotions, from wonder to fear to spiritual awe.
Suggests the hawk is more than just an animal — it’s tied to her grief and healing.
Juxtaposition
The hawk is described as both beautiful and terrifying, angelic and monstrous.
Effect: Shows Macdonald’s conflicted emotions — she is drawn to the hawk but also overwhelmed.
Reflects the wildness of nature and the chaos of grief.
Personification
“The hawk turned her head… stared straight at me.”
Effect: Gives the hawk a thinking, emotional presence, making it feel more powerful and meaningful.
Builds the idea that the hawk reflects parts of Macdonald herself.
Chronological Narrative with Flashback Elements
The passage follows Macdonald’s first encounter with the hawk, but includes emotional flashbacks and inner thoughts.
Effect: Gives the text a sense of real-time intensity, while also reflecting deeper emotional undercurrents.
Makes it feel both present and personal.
Shift in Tone and Pace
Starts with anticipation, moves into shock and awe, and ends in reflection.
Effect: Keeps the reader engaged with emotional variety.
Mirrors the experience of grief and connection — tense, chaotic, then thoughtful.
Build-Up of Tension
She introduces the hawk gradually:
“We stared at each other.”
“She turned her head…”
Effect: The slow reveal of the hawk creates suspense and a sense of ritual or reverence.
Builds the hawk up as a symbolic, powerful creature.
Juxtaposition Between Two Hawks
Describes one hawk in awe, then the other in rejection:
“This isn’t my hawk,” she says, “this is the wrong bird.”
Effect: Creates contrast and emotional shift.
Adds a twist in the narrative — the first hawk feels mythic, but the second hawk feels disappointing and wrong, reflecting her grief-driven expectations.
Short Sentences and Fragments for Emphasis
“Oh.”
“This is my hawk.”
Effect: Slows the pace at emotional peaks.
Reflects the shock, wonder, or disappointment she feels in the moment.
Descriptive Detail Followed by Emotional Reflection
First describes the hawk’s physical features → then reacts emotionally.
“Barred and beating wings… This isn’t my hawk.”
Effect: Makes the reader see exactly what she sees, then feel what she feels.
Builds empathy and highlights the emotional weight of her grief.
Contrast Between Action and Stillness
The hawk’s wild energy contrasts with Macdonald’s frozen, awed stance.
Effect: Emphasises the hawk’s untamed power and Macdonald’s emotional paralysis.
Reinforces how the hawk represents something bigger than just a bird — grief, wildness, healing.
Final Reflective Ending
The structure ends with her realising the hawk she admired isn’t hers.
Effect: Leaves the reader with a sense of loss, disorientation, and uncertainty.
Reinforces the theme of grief and the idea that what you want emotionally might not be what’s right.
