Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes
Ted Hughes (193O-1998) served as the British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death, for which he was awarded the Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth II. Born in West Yorkshire, he studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and then spent much of his time in Devon. This is one of the many poems he wrote on nature and the natural world. At the time of writing Hughes was living in America with his wife, Sylvia Plath.
Key points
The poem Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes is an animal poem. The speaker of this poem is a hawk. The hawk is looking down on the earth beneath him. He starts the poem perched on the top of a tree, preparing to swoop on his next pray. His actions and tone are exceedingly arrogant, and he compares himself to God. He is very proud of his position in the food chain and his right to choose who survives and who dies. He doesnโt want to mess with the normal order of life.
Ted Hughes writes this poem in which he places himself in the hawkโs body and mind. The hawk is depicted as an arrogant megalomaniac, and Hughes is very good at demonstrating how the hawksโ mind functions in several different scenarios and locations.
n the title of the poem โ,โ roostingโ suggests the hawk is still, not a swooping bird of prey as we may imagine. This gives a sense of the hawk meditating on his powers of destruction
๏ท The tone is haughty. The hawk is focussed and not distracted โ โno falsifying
dreamโ
The language creates an arrogance to the hawk โ โI hold Creation in my footโ, โit
is all mineโ
There is a sense of control and that the hawk is playing God throughout the poem โ โallotment of deathโ
Final words โ โI am going to keep things like thisโ shows the power that the hawk has. It is a statement suggesting he is king of the animal kingdom and untouchable
SUMMARY OF Hawk Roosting
STANZA ONE
โHawk roostingโ is a significant example of Ted Hughesโ love for nature and his special bonding with the natural world, which leads him to place the Hawk at a special pedestal.
The title of the poem โHawk roostingโ upholds the position of The Hawk as the protagonist and the speaker in the poem. Written in the first person, The Hawk has been personified as it proclaims its superiority over the human world. All through its length, the poem follows a consistent structure, each stanza being a quartet, which suggests the indisputable supremacy of the Hawk. The Hawk becomes a metaphor for power.
The opening line โI sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed,โ signifies the exalted position of the Hawk. The poem strikes a meditative and ruminating mood as the Hawk seems to take a pause and justify its superiority. The use of caesura that holds the pace right at the outset in the opening line signifies the tone of quiet contemplation, also suggested by the โclosed eyesโ. The repetition of the word โhookedโ, โBetween my hooked head and hooked feetโ, suggests how the Hawk takes pride in its special ability as a bird of prey and whether in sleep or action the Hawk is aware of its special talent.
As it says, โOr in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat,โ the poet seems to suggest that the Hawk is not being hypocritical or making any false claims. โInaction, no falsifying dreamโ projects the fact that the Hawk achieves what it stands for and claims to be its own. It does not need to indulge in any falsification.
STANZA TWO
The second stanza strikes a note of self-satisfaction and attainment; โThe convenience of the high trees!โ marked by the sign of exclamation connotes how the Hawk takes the entire nature to be at its service. The โairโs buoyancy and the sunโs rayโ are all โof advantageโ to the Hawk. The tone of pride and arrogance signifies the hawkโs confidence in its own superior vision; the earth seems to be at an inferior position as it โfaces upwardโ for the hawkโs โinspectionโ; so, the Hawk thinks.
STANZA THREE
The third stanza follows the process of creation as the word โCreationโ is repeated and personified which takes the Hawk once again to contemplate upon its position. As the Hawk sits perched up upon the tree with its feet โlocked upon the rough bark,โ the Hawk considers the entire Creation to have been involved to produce โits footโ, its, โeach featherโ. The tone of arrogance is highlighted in the words, โNow I hold Creation in my foot.โ The personification of the Hawk through the entire length of the poem brings the bird of prey into a unique significance.
STANZA FOUR
The enjambment in the lines at the start of stanza four, continuing with the concluding line of the preceding stanza, โNow I hold Creation in my foot/ Or fly, and revolve it all slowlyโ Suggest the superiority of The Hawk in all circumstances whether sitting with its feet โlocked upon the rough barkโ or encircling in the sky to sight its prey. โI kill where I please because itโs all mineโ reinforces the truth that the Hawk does not deviate from its claim of being a killer and states it honestly and bluntly that it kills where โit pleasesโ and it seems that the entire world and Creation is under the Hawkโs control. It proclaims itโs godlike position as it announces how it holds creation in its foot considering itself to be no example of โsophistryโ as suggested by the use of the negative, โThere is no sophistry in my body:โ The Hawk is brutally honest and the use of the language of aggression supports its brutal honesty and its brutality. โMy manners are tearing off headsโ The Hawk takes a brutal pride in its brutal strength. As an undertone, the poet seems to suggest the difference between the Hawk and human cruelty as they do so under the garb of the facade (cover) and the veil of hypocrisy. The blatant truth spoken by the Hawk symbolizes its honesty and bare reality in contrast with the duplicity exercised in the human world.
STANZA FIVE
The 5th stanza opens with the simple declarative statement, โThe allotment of death.โ The Hawkโs words resound the command of the ruthless dictators as it is seen to define its role as a creator and a destroyer who decides who lives and who dies. The absence of caesura accompanies the hawkโs projection of the uninterrupted headlong โpath of its flightโ through โthe bones of the livingโ. โNo arguments assert my right:โ make use of the negative to reinforce the hawkโs authority and domination which does not accept any arguments, confrontation or negation.
STANZA SIX
The concluding stanza once again makes a simple declarative statement: โThe Sun is behind me.โ The use of the negative, โNothing has changed since I beganโ supports the hawkโs unprecedented position. โMy eye has permitted no change. I am going to keep things like this.โ leads the concluding stanza to justify the hawkโs might, power and authority. The concluding lines assert the Hawkโs might and position that the Hawk maintains to be all of its own. It is not willing to exchange it with anyone else. Even the mighty sun is seen to play a secondary role and supports its presence. The poem acquires symbolic and metaphysical interpretation as the poem links to the circle of life, suggesting that the superior position of the Hawk and its reign (Rule) will never end.
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