Hawk Roosting Flashcards
Form
No rhyme scheme shows that he is free and with no rules afforded to him
Dramatic monologue - silent audience illustrates how everything else is powerless against him
First person narrative emphasises narcissism but also gives sense of authority
End-stopping gives lines a decisive feel, especially last stanza
Only rhyming couplet is ‘feet and eat’ showing how killing is perfect to him and comes naturally
Monosyllabic language illustrates how killing is simple to him
Dashes slow the pace, sadistic, he likes to draw out the pain
Structure
Cyclical - shows how nothing will ever change and the power will remain his
Stillness at the beginning and end, violent and sadistic movement in the middle
Ending with a statement about the future illustrates insurmountable confidence.
‘Eyes closed’ -> meditative, no worries
Framing device -> beginning and ending with ‘I’ emphasises hubris
Language
Arrogant, assertive and selfish
Overuse of personal pronouns
Frequent use of negative statements suggest the hawks rejecting of rules of society and perhaps a deeper disdain
top of the wood
Imagery of superiority
Symbol of his conquering nature
Hooked head and hooked feet
Aspirates
Repetition insinuates that he is crooked -> morally
Perfect kills
Juxtaposition
The convenience of the high trees!
Are of advantage to me
Orator , powerful
Arrogant -> the world has been created around him
It sounds as if nature was made for him
Exclamation shows he enjoys his power, sadistic
Suns ray
Light imagery juxtaposes the dark content
face upward for my inspection
inferiority -> looks down on them literally and figuratively
Inspection sounds sinister and emphasises superiority
It took the whole of Creation
Self entitled
Pride - nature had to work hard to make him, and now nature is at his mercy
Now I hold Creation in my food
Arrogant
Presents himself as god like
Revolve .. slowly
Grim anticipation
Sadistic comfort
I kill where i please because it is all mine
‘It?’
Fact
Juxtaposition of ‘kill’ and ‘please’ - it pleases him to kill; sadist
tearing off heads
Violent imagery
The allotment of death
Juxtaposition
Allotment is somewhere where things would normally grow and Live
through the bones of the living
Juxtaposition - he views others a material which is simply for his consumption- ironic constant shows his constant pursuit and view that anything he sees as living is already dead
Violent image of the hawk swooping
No arguments assert my right
Tyranny
Merciless
The sun is behind me
God-like
The beginnings of nature worked with him, now he ruled
I am going to keep things like this
That’s nice dearie
Simple sentences without caesura
Decisiveness
In sleep
Even when asleep, he finds violence not only undisturbing, but actually calming - intensely gruesome image
Nothing has changed since I began
Absolute power throughout its whole life -> inherently superior
Corporeal imagery
‘Eyes closed’ ‘Hooked head and hooked feet’ ‘feet, foot’ ‘No sophistry in my body’ ‘My eye’
It is perfectly adapted to be powerful
Reflection on human nature
Tyrannical leaders (Nazi eugenics)
More radically, the tyrannical humanity
Locked up on the rough bark
Harsh consonance shows his brutality
