Hawk Roosting

Question 1

Form

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Language

Answer 3

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

Question 4

top of the wood

Answer 4

Imagery of superiority

Symbol of his conquering nature

Question 5

Hooked head and hooked feet

Answer 5

Aspirates

Repetition insinuates that he is crooked -> morally

Question 6

Perfect kills

Answer 6

Juxtaposition

Question 7

The convenience of the high trees!

Are of advantage to me

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Suns ray

Answer 8

Light imagery juxtaposes the dark content

Question 9

face upward for my inspection

Answer 9

inferiority -> looks down on them literally and figuratively

Inspection sounds sinister and emphasises superiority

Question 10

It took the whole of Creation

Answer 10

Self entitled

Pride - nature had to work hard to make him, and now nature is at his mercy

Question 11

Now I hold Creation in my food

Answer 11

Arrogant

Presents himself as god like

Question 12

Revolve .. slowly

Answer 12

Grim anticipation

Sadistic comfort

Question 13

I kill where i please because it is all mine

Answer 13

‘It?’
Fact
Juxtaposition of ‘kill’ and ‘please’ - it pleases him to kill; sadist

Question 14

tearing off heads

Answer 14

Violent imagery

Question 15

The allotment of death

Answer 15

Juxtaposition

Allotment is somewhere where things would normally grow and Live

Question 16

through the bones of the living

Answer 16

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

Question 17

No arguments assert my right

Answer 17

Tyranny

Merciless

Question 18

The sun is behind me

Answer 18

God-like

The beginnings of nature worked with him, now he ruled

Question 19

I am going to keep things like this

Answer 19

That’s nice dearie

Question 20

Simple sentences without caesura

Answer 20

Decisiveness

Question 21

In sleep

Answer 21

Even when asleep, he finds violence not only undisturbing, but actually calming - intensely gruesome image

Question 22

Nothing has changed since I began

Answer 22

Absolute power throughout its whole life -> inherently superior

Question 23

Corporeal imagery

Answer 23

‘Eyes closed’ 
‘Hooked head and hooked feet’
‘feet, foot’ 
‘No sophistry in my body’
‘My eye’ 

It is perfectly adapted to be powerful

Question 24

Reflection on human nature

Answer 24

Tyrannical leaders (Nazi eugenics)

More radically, the tyrannical humanity

Question 25

Locked up on the rough bark

Answer 25

Harsh consonance shows his brutality