1. HAWK ROOSTING BY TED HUGHES Source: GCSE Bitesize http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/poetryconflict/hawkroosting1.shtml

2. Ted Hughes ■Ted Hughes (1930-1998) was born in Yorkshire, in the North of England, and grew up in the countryside. After serving in the RAF for two years, he won a scholarship to Cambridge University where he studied Archaeology and Anthropology. The themes of the countryside, human history and mythology therefore already deeply influenced his imagination by the time he started writing poetry as a student. ■He made his name as a poet in the late 1950s and 1960s and also wrote many well-known children's books including The Iron Man (which was filmed as the Iron Giant). It is for his poetry that he remains important. He was poet laureate from 1984 until his death from cancer in 1998.

3. 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

4. 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXJsOtKCVTY

5. Subject Matter This poem comes from an early volume of poetry called Lupercal. Published in 1960, it contains many poems about animals and nature and takes its title from an ancient, pre-Roman festival celebrating spring. We can interpret the poem as follows: ■literally (celebrating the hawk itself). The hawk is a bird of prey, known for its intelligence and incredibly sharp eyesight. In medieval times hawks were also used by kings and aristocrats for hunting. ■metaphorically (exploring themes associated with the bird). We talk about being hawk-eyed - observant. We also think about politicians being 'hawkish' or hawk-like, which means being aggressive towards other countries, favoring, for example, military intervention.

6. FORM This poem has a strong, regular form. It is written in six stanzas of four lines each. The length of the lines vary, but even the shorter lines express strong, controlled ideas (e.g. line 21). Thus, the overall effect of the form is to express strength and control.

7. Structure ■The first two stanzas are about his physical superiority – both in what his body is like and where he can sit. ■Stanzas three and four reveal his power of nature, and how he holds everything, including life and death, in his claws. ■The final two stanzas form a kind of justification for his actions. He explains why he is not just right because of physical superiority but also because of the way he acts without deception (and he has the support of the sun to prove it!). The structure takes the reader through different aspects of the hawk’s thought process: it arrives where it began. The poem begins and ends in lines beginning with “I.” This underlines the key idea of the poem: he is a ruler who will continue to rule exactly how he pleases for years to come.

8. Sound There is one key sound that echoes through all the stanzas. The long 'ee' sound (assonance) is found four times in stanza one. This sound runs throughout the poem. This may suggest the only sound to be heard throughout the wood is the screeching of the hawk itself. The other sound effect is the repetition of words referring to itself - the hawk's references to itself appear in every stanza. This shows how egocentric and self-important the bird is.

9. Imagery ■The language is simple. The words found in stanza two are words you might find in an office. This kind of language contrasts with the threatening language of violence as in line 16. This contrast suggests a leader trying to be a calm and sophisticated politician, while really he is a violent thug. ■The use of negatives (“no”) in lines 2, 15, 20 and 23 makes the phrases sound like political slogans. They suggest the hawk is rejecting the political process, relying instead on brute force (line 16). ■He also says he does not use clever language in line 15 and arguments to put his case forward in line 20 but, then, in line 21, he suggests the sun supports his arguments and is behind him.

10. Attitudes, Themes and Ideas When it was published, this poem was quite controversial. The image of the hawk sitting on top of the world, controlling everything through the threat of violence alluded to a fascist leader -- the Nazi symbol was an eagle standing on top of a wreath. Ted Hughes said he wanted to show “nature thinking,” but even so the hawk's thoughts are brutal. The bird sees itself as a political leader who has seized power from the forces that made it (line 12). The hawk clearly rejects the political process that works by different parties putting arguments before the general public.

11. “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.” From an interview with the author Ted Hughes in the London Magazine, January 1971

12. Hawk Roosting I 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 Reflection/Gloating Figurative Power Dreams aren’t needed as he already has everything he needs. weapons Evolved to kill “I” indicates first person speaker in the persona of the hawk. Arrogance / Power Evolution of a predator Order reveals desire to kill overrides need to eat. End stopped lines demonstrate assertive tone of the hawk.

13. 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. Absolute power / ego Accepts violence as his nature and his right Believes in his ultimate power over life and asserts that nothing or no one can stop him. The hawk has power of time! Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

14. Sample question Whatever grade you are working toward, the basic structure of any answer will be the same: ■The introduction will explain the relevance of the question to the feelings the poem expresses and an overview of the story the poem tells. ■One paragraph covers form. ■One paragraph covers structure. ■One paragraph covers language (sound and verbal imagery). ■Conclusion: You then conclude on the meaning that emerges from this. For each point, you need to provide evidence (a quote or reference) and an explanation.

15. Question: How does the poet write about death in Hawk Roosting? Points to make: ■Hughes writes about death from the point of view of a killer. ■The regular form suggests the killer is very calm and controlled about what he does. ■The structure shows that the hawk is trying to justify what he does and the social position he holds that enables him to do it. ■Dry, technical language in stanza two shows the hawk distances itself from his violent actions. ■The imagery of the hawk in the tree also shows how far above and far away the hawk is from what it actually does. ■This also works as a metaphor for politicians who are a long way from the consequences of their actions.

16. ■The repetition of the “I” sound shows the hawk is only concerned for itself. ■The metaphor in the opening line is therefore also ironic: the hawk suggests he looks like the symbol of justice (depicted blindfolded to show justice does not take sides), yet the whole poem is his attempt to justify his actions. ■His justification ends with the claim that he has the support of the sun, yet we know whose side he is on -- his own. ■Hughes shows that by sitting on top of the world with his eyes closed, the hawk is merely ignoring the consequences of its actions. ■Neither power nor words can justify the cold kills of the hawk.

17. 2015 WRITING PROMPT “Crueller than owl or eagle …” With close reference to two poems, discuss the presentation and significance of cruelty in Hughes’s poetry.