'hawk roosting' - ted hughes Flashcards
describe Ted Hughes:
- spent most of his life living in rural areas and spent lots of his childhood outdoors. enjoyed hunting, fishing, swimming
- fascinated by animals as a child. collected and drew toy animals. helped his brother when he went shooting (retriever)
- aware of the harsh realities of growing up in the countryside
describe the influence of the imagery in the poem:
- the violent imagery in his writing is influenced by his father, a WW1 veteran
- image of a bird sat atop a tree (imperial eagle) was a WW2 nazi party symbol
analyse the title:
- starting the title with ‘hawk’ emphasises the bird’s importance to the poem
- ‘roosting’ = resting. the hawk feels comfortable, safe, in control
analyse the first stanza:
structure:
- repetition of ‘hooked’ emphasises hawk’s potential for violence. only rhyming couplet, the hawk’s kills are perfect and precise
language:
- ‘I’ first person. hawk controls poem
- ‘no falsifying dream’ = no fake dream. doesn’t need these as its reality is perfect
- ‘or in sleep rehearse perfect kills’ thinks about killing in its sleep, takes pleasure in it, emphasising power and violence
imagery:
- ‘top of the wood’ physical position indicates power
analyse the second stanza:
language:
- ‘convenience’ ‘!’ (revelling in perfection), ‘advantage’ - hawk seems to think natural world is designed just to suit it, arrogant
- ‘inspection’ power. can cast judgement, punish
imagery:
- ‘the Earth’s face upward for my inspection’ Earth personified. by looking up, the hawk is above it, both literally and hierarchically
analyse the third stanza:
structure:
- plosive consonance ‘locked’ ‘bark’ emphasises hawk’s firm, harsh grip
imagery:
- hawk appears sturdy, as locks = symbol of security
describe the religious imagery in the third stanza:
‘It took the whole of Creation/To produce my foot, my each feather:/Now I hold Creation in my foot’
- reference to God in capitalisation of Creation
- the hawk thinks it’s a masterpiece, as it took all of God’s effort to create it, arrogant
- reversal in ‘Now I hold Creation in my foot’. the hawk thinks it’s more powerful than God
analyse the fourth stanza:
language:
- ‘revolve it all slowly’. hawk’s arrogance highlighted, thinks it can force ‘Creation’ to do what it wants
- ‘I kill where I please because it is mine’ monosyllabic language suggests the hawk is confident
- ‘my manners are tearing off heads’ juxtaposition between politeness and violence is like a dictator
structure:
- end-stopped line. hawk’s say is final. the line ends, like the lives of the hawk’s prey
imagery:
- ‘tearing off heads’ violence doesn’t dictate the hawk. likes power
what is the double meaning in ‘the allotment of death’?
- the hawk gives out (allots) death. emphasises power and arrogance and God-like status
- the hawk ‘grows’ death. ironic juxtaposition shows the hawk’s preoccupation with murder
analyse the fifth stanza:
structure:
‘direct/through’ directness of hawk’s path mirrored in enjambment. not even the constraints of the poem can stop the hawk from doing what it wants
imagery:
‘bones of the living’ the hawk kills without mercy (because the animals are in its way), it has power over life and death
analyse the sixth stanza:
imagery:
- ‘the sun is behind me’ the sun is powerful, and the personification makes it seem as if it’s supporting the hawk, implying it’s right for the hawk to have so much power
structure:
- end-stopped lines make each line like a statement and straightforward (like a political manifesto). the hawk is confident
- ‘I’ the last line starts in the same way as the first line, as the hawk talks about itself a lot and is egotistical
analyse the overall structure of the poem:
- dramatic monologue told from POV of the hawk. in these, the speaker addresses a silent audience, giving the hawk power over the reader
- poem divided into stanzas of equal length. could show the hawk’s power over poetry and language, can control the poem’s shape
- enjambment and caesura used throughout. the hawk is not caged by the lines, and it stops ideas and sentences where and when it wants
what is the meaning of the poem?
hawk observing natural world. arrogant, tyrannical. discusses killing, saying it’s God’s masterpiece and how it holds power over the world around it
- could be a metaphorical representation of dictators and bullies
what is the mood of the poem?
monosyllabic language creates eerily calm, emotionally detached sense. times when the tone is violent, which overall makes the hawk seem like a psychopath
what is the writer’s motivation for the poem?
- having grown up in the countryside, Hughes embraces the violent aspects of nature, rejecting stereotypical depictions of nature as cute, fluffy, innocent
- could be alluding to WW2 Nazi party, highlighting the arrogance of dictator-like leaders/regimes
what are the themes in the poem?
- power
- nature (hawk and its role in nature)
- death (lots of killing. presented as something natural, or something to savour)
- religion (sees itself as like a God, more powerful than the Christian God)
