hawk roosting
Hughes was fascinated by the 'animism' of ancient cultures, especially American Indians. Animism is the belief that spirits live inside all the parts of nature. Hughes poem seems to conjure the fierce spirit of a kind of Hawk God.
In this poem, Hughes writes in the imagined voice of a hawk. The hawk, in other words, is personified. For the sake of simplicity, I will call the hawk 'he'.
The hawk's tone of voice is proud, arrogant, he thinks of himself as master of his world. Indeed, like a God, he has power over life and death. His whole life is spent either being in 'sleep' or hunting for prey. And even when he is asleep he dreams of mastering his hunting and killing technique.
The physical description the hawk gives of itself, 'Between my hooked head and hooked feet', confirms this obsession. Its weapons, the hooks, are the things that matter most to the bird.
The hawk says that he has no 'falsifying dream', nor any 'sophistry' within himself, and that 'no arguments assert' his rights.
Sophistry means false, but clever arguments.
In other words then, unlike humans, the bird is free of rules and regulations, it does not have to justify itself to anything or anyone.
Imagery Hughes achieves some of his effects in this poem by changing the scale of things. The small hawk imagines itself to be as big as a God:
'Now I hold Creation in my foot Or fly up and revolve it slowly.'
It is as if the world is only spinning because the hawk's claw turns it looking for its next victim.
Form The poem is set out in six equal, four line stanzas. Unlike 'Work and Play' there is no development or change in form at the end of the poem.
Why not? Because the Hawk will not allow change/does not want change. It is happy with the way things are arranged.
The world of the hawk is ordered, neat, efficient, controlled, and the form of the poem matches those qualities.
The lines are fairly short and many end with full stops. For instance, the four
In this poem, Hughes writes in the imagined voice of a hawk. The hawk, in other words, is personified. For the sake of simplicity, I will call the hawk 'he'.
The hawk's tone of voice is proud, arrogant, he thinks of himself as master of his world. Indeed, like a God, he has power over life and death. His whole life is spent either being in 'sleep' or hunting for prey. And even when he is asleep he dreams of mastering his hunting and killing technique.
The physical description the hawk gives of itself, 'Between my hooked head and hooked feet', confirms this obsession. Its weapons, the hooks, are the things that matter most to the bird.
The hawk says that he has no 'falsifying dream', nor any 'sophistry' within himself, and that 'no arguments assert' his rights.
Sophistry means false, but clever arguments.
In other words then, unlike humans, the bird is free of rules and regulations, it does not have to justify itself to anything or anyone.
Imagery Hughes achieves some of his effects in this poem by changing the scale of things. The small hawk imagines itself to be as big as a God:
'Now I hold Creation in my foot Or fly up and revolve it slowly.'
It is as if the world is only spinning because the hawk's claw turns it looking for its next victim.
Form The poem is set out in six equal, four line stanzas. Unlike 'Work and Play' there is no development or change in form at the end of the poem.
Why not? Because the Hawk will not allow change/does not want change. It is happy with the way things are arranged.
The world of the hawk is ordered, neat, efficient, controlled, and the form of the poem matches those qualities.
The lines are fairly short and many end with full stops. For instance, the four