Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

• written in 1960
• a poem which has created some misunderstanding in Hughes’ canon.
• it established Hughes’ early reputation and some notoriety.
• reputation for violence in his work.
• Hughes remarked that the hawk sounds like hitler’s familiar to Plath. Plath referred to this in letters to her mother.

Question 2

Subject

Answer 2

This is an austere poem about killing. It is a vision of the complete insanity of power.

Question 3

Form and Structure

Answer 3

Form

• Strong narrative presence in the poem.
• Dramatic monologue delivered by a megalomaniac

Structure

• Structure of the poem highlights the bird’s delusion:
• The short, stabbing syntax and frequent use of spondees produces a language of manic certitude in the monologue.

Question 4

Language Techniques

Answer 4

Imagery,
“Between my hooked head and hooked feet”

Language
-The hawk is unlike a human,
“There is no sophistry in my body:
My manners are tearing off heads-“
droid of consciousness 

-“No arguments assert my right”
killing by instinct-no guilt

-“I am going to keep things like this.”
The hawk glorifying in what it is, a killer.
Delusion that he is God.
Dramatic double-take effect like thought fox.

Question 5

Mood

Answer 5

Intense