Hawk roosting

Question 1

Title - Hawk Roosting

Answer 1

‘roosting’ means resting and is usually used when talking about birds.
if the hawk is roosting that suggests that it feels comfortable and safe - knows that it won’t be eaten

Question 2

stanza 1

Answer 2

• ‘I sit in the top of the wood’ - indicates its powerful position above the rest of nature – apex predator – king of the castle.
• ‘no falsifying dream’ the hawk has no need for fake dreams as its reality is perfect – arrogance – Hawk is presented as an articulate speaker – ‘falsifying’ – shows the Hawk’s eloquence emphasizing power.
• ‘Hooked head and hooked feet’ - repetition of hooked emphasizes that the hawk is weaponized from head to toe showing his power.
• ‘in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat’ - The hawk thinks about killing even in its sleep emphasising its power & violence – ‘Perfect’ implies that it takes great pleasure from killing

Question 3

stanza 2

Answer 3

• The phrase ‘convenience of the high trees!’ makes it sound like nature has been designed to suit the hawk.
• ‘!’ shows that the Hawk enjoys its dominance and control.
• The earth has been personified - ‘earth’s face upward for my inspection’ - by looking ‘upward’, it suggests that the hawk is above it literally and hierarchically.

Question 4

stanza 3

Answer 4

• ‘It took the whole of Creation To produce my foot’ - suggests that’s the hawk thinks it is God’s masterpiece - arrogance.
• ‘I hold Creation in my foot’ hawk believes that it is now more powerful than God.

Question 5

stanza 4

Answer 5

• ‘I kill where I please because it is all mine’ - monosyllabic language suggests that the hawk is incredibly confident and comfortable with its power. The full stop shows that the line has come to an end just like the lives of the things it chooses to kill.
• ‘My manners are tearing off heads’ oxymoron juxtaposes politeness with extreme violence to shock the reader.

Question 6

stanza 5

Answer 6

• ‘allotment of death’ - allotments can mean giving out so this could be seen to be about the distribution of death which could emphasize the Hawk’s power and arrogance and near godlike status.
• ‘Bones of the living’ - ironic contrast between life and death - shows Hawk’s constant pursuit of killing things.

Question 7

stanza 6

Answer 7

• ‘The sun is behind me’ - suggests that’s the Sun (the most powerful thing in the whole of nature) is supporting the Hawk, like a side figure to him – arrogance.
• The poem begins and ends with lines that start with ‘I’ - repetition shows us that the hawk talks about itself a lot – arrogance.

Question 8

Stansaz

Answer 8

1 sit top of the wood, false dream, hooked head toe, sleep kill eat
2 convenience of high trees - ! Upward earth
3 - creation
4 - I kill where I please - all mine - manners tearing off heads
5 allotment of death, bones of the living
6 Sun is behind me I I