hawk roosting - ted hughes Flashcards
“I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed”
“I killed where.I please because it is all mine.”
written from the hawk’s perspective.
- bird of prey, he is on top of the food chain.
- personal pronouns “I” shows the ownership of power and nature.
“between my hooked head and hooked feet”
“in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.”
“my manners are tearing off heads.”
the hawk is designed to kill
- repetition “hooked” shows that the hawk is in control and is ready to kill.
- adjective “perfect” shows that it is an instinctive killer even in his deep sleep.
- contrast “manners” and “tearing” which showed a violent imagery of the hawk. It is on its best behaviour (which is a merciless killer)
“the convenience of the high trees! The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray are of advantage to me;”
“or fly up, and revolve it all slowly.”
all the stuff are specifically designed for him, egotistical.
- pronoun “me” shows belongs to him only.
- verb “revolve” shows how it is turning just for him
“earth’s face upwards for my inspection”
“it took the whole of creation to produce my feet, my each feather”
“the sun is behind me”
nature is supporting the hawk.
- personification “earth” and the “sun” shows submissive to the hawk, as if they are looking for his approval and is supporting the bird.
- religious imagery “creation” shows how the God took his time to create him, dramatic.
“my feet are locked upon the rough bark”
“no arguments assert my rights”
no one can question him.
- verb “locked” can be a resemblance of dictatorship where they “lock” their freedom.
- assertion, shows there will be no challenges or “no”
“now I hold creation in my foot”
“the allotment of death”
“my flight is direct through the bones of the living”
playing the role of God, he holds the decisions of life and death.
- metaphor “allotment” shows how is growing death.
- contrast “bones” and “living” which implies he has the power to take lives away.
“nothing has changed since I began”
“my eyes has permitted no change.”
“I am going to keep things like this”
will retain his power.
- all the short sentences shows this is his final statement, he is not allowing nature of his power to be disrupted.
CONTEXT
- there is a clear and clean structure which can reveals the hawk’s control over his life and the land.
- nature and animal are the dominate themes in his poetry.
- he spend a lot of time in the Yorkshire countryside (moorland) where hawks are often found.
- wrote many poems about power and it links to nature and the natural world.
- loves to emphasise the savagery of animal life - hawks are usually associated with hunting as a symbol.
- likes to write about the dark side of nature.
- interested in power on mankind, political leaders, everyday man.
- hughes said the poem is simply about a hawk - people usually associate his poem on tyrannical leaders like Hitler, and their thoughts on power, showing the cruelty of nature.
- saw post war era and its effect on people with the abuse of power.
