Poetry Across Time
Conflict
Introduce
Hawk Roosting
By Ted Hughes
Establish
Why a hawk?
Is this really a
poem about leaves?
Is the position of the hawk important?
How does this link with the theme of 'conflict'?
Establish/Discuss
Hawk Roosting
By Ted Hughes
Ted Hughes was born in 1930 and died in 1998. He was an
English poet and children's writer. Critics routinely rank him as
one of the best poets of his generation. Hughes was British Poet
Laureate from 1984 until his death. Born in West Yorkshire, he
studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge, later spending most of
his life in Devon. He was aware of the violent forces of nature.
As a child, he gained an interest in the natural world and the
violence required to survive in harsh environments. His poems
emphasise the scheming and savagery of animal life.
"The poem of mine usually cited for violence is the
one about the Hawk Roosting, this drowsy hawk sitting in a wood
and talking to itself. That bird is accused of being a fascist...
the symbol of some horrible genocidal dictator. Actually what
I had in mind was that in this hawk Nature was thinking.
Simply Nature."
Ted Hughes, London Magazine, January 1971
"This is the universe that the bird inhabits when it's got its
eyes closed... it's what it thinks about, what it dreams about.
The type of magic that Ted Hughes is interested in would
allow some people in certain civilisations to actually become
certain animals, to take on the spirit of an animal... and I
think this is part of his magical practice - he's becoming the
animal and seeing what occurs to him. What does it feel like
to think like a hawk?
You get a lot of blood and guts in a Ted Hughes poem and a
lot of violence, because nature is violent and he doesn't close
his eyes to that... I think he would say that violence is one
thing that reminds us of the real world and what it is to be
alive in this world. When the hawk is given language... when
it's given the ability to explain itself... it becomes quite a
terrifying prospect."
Simon Armitage, Passwords (Channel 4), 1998
Author's Ideas and Background
Hawk Roosting
I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.
Inaction, no falsifying dream
Between my hooked head and hooked feet:
Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.
The convenience of the high trees!
The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray
Are of advantage to me;
And the earth’s face upward for my inspection.
My feet are locked upon the rough bark.
It took the whole of Creation
To produce my foot, my each feather:
Now I hold Creation in my foot
Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly -
I kill where I please because it is all mine.
There is no sophistry in my body:
My manners are tearing off heads -
The allotment of death.
For the one path of my flight is direct
Through the bones of the living.
No arguments assert my right:
The sun is behind me.
Nothing has changed since I began.
My eye has permitted no change.
I am going to keep things like this.
TED HUGHES
Poem
Hawk a metaphor for?
Physical position reflects?
Hawk Roosting
I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed. No time for
Inaction, no falsifying dream imagination or
Repetition
Between my hooked head and hooked feet: fantasy.
emphasises?
Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.
The convenience of the high trees!
The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray
The hawk imagines Are of advantage to me;
itself to be the only And the earth’s face upward for my inspection. Example of?
important being.
My feet are locked upon the rough bark.
It took the whole of Creation Hawk carries the earth
To produce my foot, my each feather: rather than being
Now I hold Creation in my foot supported by it.
Tone?
Image?
Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly -
What is the hawk
I kill where I please because it is all mine.
thinking?
There is no sophistry in my body:
My manners are tearing off heads - Reminds us of?
Vocabulary brutal
Violent image of
The allotment of death.
the hawk
For the one path of my flight is direct
swooping on prey.
Through the bones of the living.
No arguments assert my right:
Pronoun use
Sun is supporting throughout
the hawk as well emphasises?
The sun is behind me.
as it being literally
Nothing has changed since I began.
behind it.
My eye has permitted no change.
Significance?
I am going to keep things like this.
The hawk likes to feel?
TED HUGHES
Framed
Perspective of 'I':
Identify
Interpreting the text:
Imagery
1 What extended metaphor is used
in the poem?
Structure
Look closely at each stanza .
What do you notice? What does this link to?
Punctuation
Track the use of punctuation.
Why are there so many end stopped lines?
Skill: Interpreting the Text
Endings:
The sun is behind me.
Nothing has changed since I began.
My eyes have permitted no change.
I am going to keep things like this.
Reflection...
* What is the tone of the end of
this poem?
* Why is the word 'permitted'
used?
* What are things like?
Explain your ideas.
Skill: Symbolism
Agree or Disagree!
Refer to the poem to help explain your ideas.
1. Ted Hughes is trying to show a
life-force that is clearly non-human,
the wildness and brutality of a creature in its natural state.
2. The hawk represents the way power and wealth preys on the
weak and poor in this world.
3. Because of Hughes' respect for nature, itis highly unlikely
that he would use a hawk to describe humans.
4. Using human language, the poet tries to explore how alien
the hawk's view of life is to our own.
5. Hughes makes use of the hawk to mock mankind.
Agree/Disagree
Look at the images below:
Can you find the quotation/idea
that they refer to?
Question Time!
1. How does the poet create a sense
of the hawk's superiority?
2. Why do you think the poet is
written in present tense?
3. Could this poem be linked to the government and political
leaders?
4. Is the reader supposed to agree with the hawk's opinion
of itself?
5. Why do you think the poet has chosen a hawk to convey
his opinions?
Summary
Subject
Hughes personifies a hawk. He describes it as a survivor and a killer. He compares the hawk's
freedom to act on instinct with the way we are ruled by thoughts, arguments and regulations.
Attitude
The hawks' attitude is arrogant; its tone is menacing, confident, absolute, and boastful. The hawk
sees itself as like a king, or a god or an executioner.
Hughes's attitude is more difficult to tell. He leaves the poem open for the reader to decide on how
to react to this fierce spirit. Could we just laugh at the small hawk's grand deluded view of itself?
Style
Almost every image refers to the hawk's control and confidence. Everything revolves around the
hawk. Look at the number of times 'I', 'me' or 'my' is used.
There are lots of short, factual sounding statements in the poem, and a lot of full-stops.
Quick Questions
These help to convey the bird's certainty.
Links:
Biography of poet:
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/
singlePoet.do?poetId=7078
Analysis of poem:
http://www.s-cool.co.uk/gcse/english/poetry-of-ted-
hughes/revise-it/hawk-roosting
http://www.brighthub.com/arts/books/articles/
68268.aspx
http://www.english-e-corner.com/comparativeCulture/
core/introduction/frameset/hawkbody.html
Questions on the Poem:
http://knowledge4africa.com/english/poetry/hawk-
roosting-c.jsp
(Channel 4's clipbank contains video clips of poet
reading poem and an analysis of poem - subscription
needed)
Links and References
