Robert Penn Warren's 'Evening Hawk'

For years at a time history has been made every day. Associated with the constant changes of the influence way the world is run. The influence used with good intentions, yet may end in ultimate failure. As the world evolves one aims to better oneself to sustain living and maintaining life on earth. However, as humans we believe we can change how life evolves to fix ones mistakes but in fact are making them worse. Allowing such mistakes reoccur over and over again. Society is not paying attention to the mistakes created and not allowing correction. In realizing history’s repetitive and negative nature, Robert Penn Warren, wrote “Evening Hawk” in order to influence readers to learn from their mistakes.
By setting an image in one’s mind with one’s mind with sensory language, Warren is able to convey a sense of fear by illustrating the passage of time. “Evening Hawk” symbolizes the error of humanity. Hawks to most people are associated with strength because it is a powerful yet misunderstood bird. Line 2 “Geometries and orchids that the sunset build” implies that the sun has set and the hawk is taking flight. Continuing with Stanza 1 Line 10 “the crash less falls of stalks of time/gold of our error.” one may picture a
cornstalk that looks very heavy with time that is ready to fall but enduring the heaviness that the top brings. This shows human error becoming very heavy and time is continuously crashing because of no change and enduring more mistakes.
“Evening Hawk” uses mood to reveal how Warren feels towards the subject.
With mood it creates meaning. For example, after re-reading the poem “Evening Hawk” means do not ignore ones mistakes, if one does, one will not become a better person. It demonstrates in the poem how there was a mistake that has taken place, aging comes in to play, and finally mistakes are being realized. Warren did this to open people eyes to mistakes and give them time to reevaluate how the mistake can be fixed. They were benefiting versus learning from the history. Line 18 “Now cruises in his sharp hieroglyphics his wisdom/ is ancient, too and immense.” Warren used this line to show how one can prosper from mistakes because you have gained wisdom and learned from the
past.
Meaning is created when something needs justification. In the poem it illustrates death in the final stanza. “If there were no wind we might, we think, hear…” creates meaning as the world does not end even after death and memory soon fades from flight. This justifies that death does not end time. This creates meaning for death because it shows what happened after we die as humans. The world continues. History still continues on because not only one person is in control of one thing multiple people continue to carry out what was left. The world has been here for thousands of years not once did it stop because someone died.
In essence “Evening Hawk” uses his poem to inform human kind to their mistakes, how one must fix mistakes by realizing the mistakes. The poem uses sensory language to describe the very scene to convey mood and meaning