1. Activity A Activity B Activity C Activity D Activity E Activity F
Hawk Roosting
– by Ted Hughes–
Choose a task
Activity A
Activity B
Activity C
Activity D
Activity E
Activity F

2. Activity A Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes–
The poem is about a point of view. Read the poem a few times. What point of view, emotion or state of mind is being created here?
Menu
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.
1 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. 1
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  1
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.
Select words and phrases to support your views - as a start underline how much the personal pronoun or possessive adjective is used.
Click to show highlighted words.

3. Activity B Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes–
The poet conveys the notion that the bird is an unstoppable force of nature in these verses. How does Ted Hughes do this?
Menu
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.
1 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. 1
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  1
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.
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.
1 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. 1
Where does it show that the creature is sure that it cannot be halted?
What does this say about how we look at things we consider less significant than ourselves?
Consider the words highlighted in red. Click to show words.

4. Welsh writing in English Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes– Activity C
In this part of the poem how is the hawk presented? Read these lines aloud and look closely at language and punctuation.
Menu
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.
1 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. 1
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  1
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.
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.
1 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. 1
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  1
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 –
What is the perspective of the hawk on the world beneath?
What shows us how he views the world and especially his special place in the world?
How much effort has gone into creating every detail of his body?
How much effort has gone into creating every detail of his body? Click to show highlighted words.
Look at the sentences. Most are end-stopped and unrhymed. What does this add to the tone of the poem?

5. Welsh writing in English Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes– Activity D
It is stressed that the hawk is fit for purpose. The bird is perfection and cannot or will not be improved.
Menu
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.
1 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. 1
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  1
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.
Consider the words and phrases shaded in yellow. How do they show us how certain he is about where he is and what he is? Click to show shaded words.
How convincing is the voice?

6. Activity E Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes–
Read the poem aloud and expressively. Can you track both stillness and movement in this poem?
Menu
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.
1 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. 1
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  1
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.
Select examples of when the bird is still and when the bird moves.
Click to highlight movement
in red and stillness in blue.
Are these sudden movements and why does it move?
Does the poem make you think differently about the hawk and other creatures?

7. Activity F Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes–
How does the poem’s form and structure help the impact or message of the poem? How is punctuation used in this poem to produce an effect?
Menu
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.
1 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. 1
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  1
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.
Look at the pattern of four lined verses. Are they regular and do they rhyme? Are there any run-on lines?
Move from punctuation mark to punctuation mark. What is the effect?
Are the sentences more like statements of fact?
What is the result?