Poetry Anthology - Death of a Naturalist + Hawk Roosting

Question 1

Point 1 + quotations for DoaN and HR:

Answer 1

In ‘Death of a Naturalist,’ Heaney focuses on nature and its beauty whereas in ‘Hawk Roosting,’ Hughes is dismissive of nature.

DoaN
- “bluebottles wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell”

HR
- “I sit in the top of the wood.”

Question 2

Point 2 + quotations for DoaN and HR:

Answer 2

Heaney portrays the transformation of the narrator’s view of nature throughout the poem while in Hugh’s, the hawk sees no reason to change his arrogant outlook on the rest of the natural world.

DoaN
- “Then one hot day when the fields were rank,”
- “sweltered”
- “coarse croaking”

HR
- “the Earth’s face upwards for my inspection”
- “I”
- “Nothing has changed since I began”

Question 3

Point 3 + quotations for DoaN + HR:

Answer 3

Both poems suggest that forces of nature are more powerful than humans.

Context:
Both poets grew up in the countryside, so they both explore the forces of nature that perhaps they have experienced in their lives themselves

DoaN
- “poised like mud grenades”
- “cocked”

HR
- “My feet are locked upon the rough bark”

Question 4

Point 4 + quotations for DoaN and HR:

Answer 4

‘Death of a Naturalist’ and ‘Hawk Roosting both explore a more violent and darker side to nature.

Context:
Violence portrayed in both poems could echo their personal experiences relating to war and conflict; with Heaney, through The Troubles, and for Hugh, his time fighting with the RAF.

DoaN
- “cocked”
- “slap and plop were obscene threats”
- “I sickened, turned and ran”
- “angry slime kings”

HR
- “no falsifying dream / Between my hooked head and hooked feat”
- “my manners are tearing off heads”
- hawk governs the “allotment of death”

Question 5

Point 5 + quotations for DoaN + HR:

Answer 5

Poets use two different structures to express the contrasting views that are expressed throughout the poems.