Hawk Roosting Flashcards
Poet
Ted Hughes
Structure/Form
This poem has a strong, regular form. It is written in six stanzas of four lines each. The length of the lines vary, but even the shorter lines still express strong, controlled ideas (e.g. line 21). So the overall effect of the form is to express strength and control.
Structure
The first two stanzas are about his physical superiority – both in what his body is like and where he can sit.
Stanzas three and four reveal his power of nature, and how he holds everything, including life and death, in his claws.
The final two stanzas form a kind of justification for his actions. He explains why he is not just right because of physical superiority but also the way he acts without deception (and he has the support of the sun to prove it!).
Context
Grew up in he countryside. After serving in the RAF for two years, he won a scholarship to Cambridge University where he studied Archaeology and Anthropology. The themes of the countryside, human history and mythology therefore already deeply influenced his imagination by the time he started writing poetry as a student.
Allotment of death
Metaphor here juxtaposes life and death. The noun ‘allotment’ has connotations of life and growth, whereas the noun ‘death’ connotes violence and killing. This sets up the idea in the poem that natural life is being killed under the power of such high profile figures. The metaphor creates the image of mass deaths, making up that of an allotment/field.
Sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat
Lack of punctuation here suggests that the destruction is unpredictable and cannot be controlled. The verbs ‘sleep’, ‘rehearse’, ‘kills’ and ‘eat’ refer to the regular routine of the powerful figure (bird/government); the juxtaposition of ‘kills’ with the more regular everyday verbs such as ‘eat’ and ‘sleep’ shows how natural death/killing is to the figure. Destruction is natural.
Hawk Roosting
The noun ‘Hawk’ has connotations of being a predator, a killer, and also as having good eye sight. The term is unnerving as you do not know what the bird will do at any moment, or what it is witnessing and seeing through the powerful vision. The verb ‘Roosting’ contrasts with this powerful bird, as it connotes rest and comfort. Sets a nervous tone to the poem and creates an uneasy feel to the natural world.
I sit in the stop of te wood, my eyes closed
The preposition ‘top’ creates the image of authority and powerful figures. The noun ‘wood’ is an extended metaphor for the world – power is always in place. The verb phrase ‘eyes closed’ is unnerving and suggests that the governments are pretending to not be watching, but they are in fact watching our every move.
Now i hold Creation in my foot
Adverb ‘Now’ indicates a change of time, an awareness of how power has changed. The capitalisation of ‘Creation’ is religious and highlights the importance of people and nature. This is juxtaposed by the personification of the figure holding Creation ‘in my foot’. Despite creation being important, the governments/powerful figures are in charge of it. The noun ‘foot’ is also disturbing – it is hard to secure anything with your foot, so it shows they are well practiced and extremely powerful.
‘air’, ‘trees’, ‘wood’, ‘allotment’
Semantic Field of nature evident throughout the poem to show the more natural parts of the world that re at risk of such high power
‘rough’, ‘tearing’, ‘death’, ‘bones’
Semantic field of death contrasts with the semantic field of nature, highlighting the dangers of such high powers
‘hooked head and hooked feet’
Syntactic Parallelism - Sounds intimidating with ‘hooked’ linking to no escape. The speaker is secure and is fully in place on his pedestal.
