Hawk Roosting Analysis

I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.

Inaction, no falsyfing 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 footOr 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.

.: :.

"Hawk Roosting" represents to corruption that mankind experiences through the few people who feel all powerful. The "hawk" feels as though he is God, able to do whatever he pleases because the world was created for him. The "hawk" shows how survival of the fittest takes place within the poem, as evolution continues. The poem also portrays the frequent literary feature that Ted Hughes uses; the idea of a cycle. As God created the hawk and its feathers and foot, He also created the branch and the food the hawk uses to survive = the endless cycle of life.
FROM CHACHASTATAS :D

| Posted on 2009-09-17 | by a guest

.: :.

I believe the that the hawk is just a depiction of a creature of power not necessarily human (though humans are supposedly the only beings with a need for power), the hawk believes that he is god, he believes that he is the only being with the right to kill and he is not arrogant just ignorant, but still the hawk is depicting himself as powerful and god-like 'No arguments assert my right:The sun is behind me' the sun is behind me the hawk says, he puts himself as a creature with power enough to say that the sun is lower than him that the sun can't even compare with him. The hawk told us that he was the pinnacle of creation, that those below on the earth were his to take. In the end he said that he wanted to keep things like this, who wouldn't want to keep things like what the hawk was saying, with the power in your hands but that is an illusion, like many leaders today they donot have the power to do anything without the approval of those lower than him and in the hawk's case somebody else will replace him and those weaker than him (like the public) may just start defying him.
I don't really think criticism is needed here because there are some good points stated here and views that people believe in should be left alone. Although I have noticed some idiots here.

| Posted on 2009-06-13 | by a guest

.: :.

The poem Hawk Roasting expresses the predator/prey process using personification and metaphors. A vicious predator seeks a meal. The predator in the poem takes the form of a hawk, but in reality the hawk represents the evil people in this world who prey on the weak and frail and/or possibly the poor. The hawk sitting high up in the trees represents how the rich seem to be higher up on the ladder of importance in society. “I kill where I please because it is all mine.” This quote represents the arrogance of the wealthy and how they can control the poor. Since nothing has changed since the hawk has been preying on his food, he will not change his ways. This says a lot about the mentality of the wealthy corporation owners and their greed for power and wealth.

| Posted on 2009-05-07 | by a guest

.: :.

This poem in clearly about how there are some things in life (life represented by nature) that are violent/ destructive. The hawk represents a this destructive force, for it does it's job routinely as well as proudly. To add on to my earlier statement, these destructive forces do so without regret.

| Posted on 2009-04-06 | by a guest

.: :.

The Poem clearly has an aspect of evolution. When Hughes metions " The whole of Creation he is talking about the period in which God Developed the Hawk. The arrogance of the hawk in the way he talks about it seems as if he is the pinnacle of creation and above even God.

| Posted on 2009-03-23 | by a guest

.: :.

I haven't fully deciphered the meaning of this poem, but I can say for sure it isn't about evolution. Sometimes people read way too much into poetry and ignore the obvious facts. The simple use of the word Creation (capitalized) implies a Creator.

| Posted on 2009-02-21 | by a guest

.: :.

I believe it is fair to say that 99% of the posters here are completely missing the point of the poem. Had the posters read more than just this one nature poem by Hughes, it would be clear that Hughes always rates nature and other animals above humans. Due to his respect of nature, it also seems highly unlikely that he would intend to use the hawk to describe humans and their arrogance, especially since there is not a slightest hint of sarcasm or irony in the poem and the hawk is constantly convincing and serious.
In a nut shell: Don't try to invent things in the poem, because everything there is to the poem and its meaning is there in writing, there aren't any hidden meanings. Focus on understanding the imagery and language and emotion related to them. That way you might understand the poem as a whole. For some insight on the way Hughes thought of humans and nature, see for example "Work and Play"
Oh, and by the way, the word "Inaction" is no mistake, it is perfectly logical and coherent. I can't understand how someone could understand it as "In action" or how someone who reads poetry in English could not know the definition of the word "Inaction".

| Posted on 2009-01-18 | by a guest

.: :.

After first reading the poem, the obvious meaning of arrogance and power did not settle well with me. I needed a deeper meaning to suffice as the true intent of this poem. After a personal struggle against suicide and depression, this poem most relates to that struggle. Regardless the advantages and conveniences of life (the trees, sun's rays, etc.), the struggle to be the best in a world amongst others (the innate killing passion of the hawk), I must continue to fight for the passion I have even if it is against the ones I love (the hawk kills other Creation, the same of which he has been Created). Though a life against the ones I love may be the return of my suicide, my passion in life forces me to ward them off (the moral wrong doing of the hawk's killings are his passion, this is why he will always kill.) So I may quote the hawk and agree because "I am going to keep things like this." This is my nature as is the hawk's. This is all I know, as does the hawk. Though he is killing onto others, I am killing just as well, I am killing all love in my life, which is just as morally incorrect. The pride behind my passion to be the best, is what replenishes this foolish act, as it does the killing done by the hawk.

| Posted on 2008-12-04 | by a guest

.: :.

I think the poem is very heavy on its views about evolution

| Posted on 2008-11-26 | by a guest

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I am dan scot. gsaokjae gjo[ awjipoaoj[aeoj[a e[oj at[oja teo[jataey roj][a yetoae yae o[esay [onpew oaeh[ojeah t[oeh ta[oe hta[ojae ht#[oj htea yeat he[oj# ahteihn[ hteao[j m ahteo[ja hte[oja h[o hea[o ahe[oj htea[omja hte[omja hte[omje htao[#j htea

| Posted on 2008-11-17 | by a guest

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I think this poem is very powerful, and is one of the best of all time. It makes you think the hawk is mighty, and has it all. He belives that he is the perfect and dominate species, not humans. Got to be ten out of ten.

| Posted on 2008-11-17 | by a guest

.: :.

This poem is very powerful, and I belive that is brilliant. Like where it states: No falsifying dream, it makes you think the hawk is deadly seroius, and not to be messed around with. It is a great poem, 10 out of 10.

| Posted on 2008-11-17 | by a guest

.: Control :.

The poem is all about the need for control inherent in human beings. Hughes allegorically uses the Hawk to describe dictatorship, what Hughes believes to be the epitome of human desire for control- we see vanity 'it is all mine' and we see delusion, ironically alluded to in "falsifying dream"
a biblical contextualization must be used also due to the capitalization of the C in the word "Creation" which is an obvious allusion to theistic foundation texts, for instance, and more probable, Genesis. from this perspective it is a critique on the unfounded superiority that human beings assert they have

| Posted on 2008-05-19 | by a guest

.: :.

The only thought I'd like to contribute is the possibility that Hughes is trying to convey the loss of perspective of those in power. When an individual achieves power the viewpoint that he/she once had changes, and often for the worse. The hawk feels that things are the way they are because creation means to serve the hawk. Could this possibly refer to the tendency of power to corrupt the human race?

| Posted on 2008-03-24 | by a guest

.: comparison :.

The hawk in this poem is referred to as he which depicts a male voice in the society. It can be said that through this poem the poet is trying to convey that the world was and is still dominated by the male version of human beings. The hawk may be compared to the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as they share many qualities in common like that of a will to rule, a will to have the world under his control, a will to compare himself to the creator and so on.

| Posted on 2008-03-17 | by a guest

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I feel many comments above are missing the point in likening the portrayal of the hawk to an embodiement of humanity. If anything, Hughes, like Lawrence in his animal poems though in a very different manner, establishes the difference between the hawk, sufficient unto itself and at one with its enviroment, and humans who use arguments to assert themselves and are caught up in the myth of progress: 'Nothing has changed since I began.'There is little ignorance on the part of the hawk but rather, in humanity where we posit ourselves with a rationalizing power a million miles away from the reality of our position in the world. History is cyclical and the hawk is aware of this. The difference between Hughes and Lawrence lies in the representation of animals where Hughes feels he can speak for them and yet Lawrence does not permit himself that superiority or right.

| Posted on 2007-11-09 | by a guest

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The essay, further down, is rather well written, but the point is slightly skewed. In the intro the author states that there is more to the poem than meets the eye, and this is more than true, but the author is continuing to explain only the literal aspect of the poem. The fact is he or she is explaining to the reader all the things that meet the eye. Instead, I would focus the majority of my paper on the implicit meaning of the poem, or explain that you are focusing on the explicit. Hope the feedback is helpful.
-the writer of the quote entitled Error.

| Posted on 2007-09-14 | by a guest

.: My Essay :.

This is the start of my essay
What do people think?

The ‘Hawk Roosting’ is a very powerful poem and there is more to the poem then first meets the eye. Ted Hughes writes the poem putting himself into the body and mind of a hawk. The hawk is portrayed as an arrogant megalomaniac and Hughes is very good at showing the way the hawks mind works in a number of different situations and in different places. The themes throughout most of the poem revolve around power, ignorance and self indulgence. The hawk itself represents power and ignorance at the same time because he thinks that he is the most important animal in the woods and he is ignorant to the fact that he cannot have everything, in the poem Hughes shows this very well by using lots of emotive language and description about how the hawk thinks.
The opening line, “I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed”, is referring to the hierarchy of the wood. When Hughes says that the hawk is in the top of the wood he is working on a literal level, the hawk is literally on the top of the wood and figuratively. The hawk thinks of itself as the king of the woods, he is unchallenged and fearless. Hughes goes on to say that the hawk wants or needs nothing, “…no falsifying dream”, his dreams are not something that he wants – he already has everything he wants – his dreams are his reality. Hughes mentions the hawks “hooked head and hooked feet” next; Hughes is describing these because they are his weapons, his tools for killing, he is proud of them because they have helped him into the position at the top of the food chain and, as the hawk thinks, to the top of the world. At the end of this line, instead of just ending the sentence, Hughes has used a semi colon which helps this penultimate line of the stanza run fluently into the last line. In the last line of this stanza Hughes writes about the hawk “in sleep rehearse(ing) perfect kills and eat.” The hawk is remembering his perfect kills and rehearsing for the next time he needs to eat, or just wants to kill. Hughes writes kills then eats suggesting that, to the hawk, killing is more important then eating. Even is the hawk did not have to eat to survive he would kill, just for the thrill.
The hawks perspective then shifts to his domain, he is saying how his surroundings are so convenient for him and, “The convenience of the high trees!”, he sits at the top of the wood using the high trees as an advantage to him so that he can see everything that is going on beneath him, he is like a manager watching all his employees from a distance, though the hawk has very different ideas about what he is going to do to his “employees”. Hughes ends the sentence with an exclamation mark showing that the hawk is happy that he has secured such a good place in the woods. In the next two lines he is again talking about the advantages of his surroundings. This time he is talking about “The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s rays”. The air’s buoyancy is an advantage because it means that he can easily glide over the wood and take a look at what is happening beneath him and he has a great view of all his prey. The sun provides light, so that the darkness of the wood is lifted, so he can see all his prey. The last line in this stanza show that the hawk thinks it is more important then the Earth itself, the hawk seems to think that the Earth is subservient to him.

| Posted on 2007-08-30 | by a guest

.: ERROR :.

It is a good poem, explicating the thuoght of humans and their "divine right" for ownership of the world. I have been currently studying this poem and have come across an interesting part. In the first stanza I have found an error. "Inaction"-properly defined-is "a state of inactivity." Most commonly read, this is refered to as "In action" (which is precisely what I did upon first review) and would be correct. But two lines afterward he says "Or in sleep.." but if he were speaking of "a state of inactivity (Inaction) and sleep (a state of inactivity) why would he use the specific conjunction "or?" I am no english major in any sense and can guarentee the numerous errors on my part to far out number those of Hughes but with this kind of error it makes it near impossible to analyze the first four lines correctly. I just thought that it might be helpfull to note the authors mistake. (I have checked many other websites and see no other spellings to believe that it is a publisher error)

| Posted on 2007-06-15 | by a guest

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This poem hauntingly depicts Hughes' lurid view of man's discomfort in nature. The Hawk's superiority is based on a symbiotic relationship with the natural elements themselves ("sun's ray", "air's buoyancy"), which emphasises man's inability to amalgamate with the forces of nature.

| Posted on 2007-05-03 | by a guest

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Hawk can be seen as a dictator in this poem; a great power whereby everyting that "is mine" is powerless to do anything else. Punishment for such a deed would be to end up a "perfect kill". This image of him thinking about killing even whilst he's sleeping shows his one track mind; killing is everything to him.

| Posted on 2007-03-05 | by a guest

.: :.

Hughes uses vivid imagery and metaphor in Hawk Roosting to present the predatory nature of the hawk. “My manners are tearing off heads” is an image Hughes uses to shock the reader and illustrate the violence of the Hawk’s nature. Also, “The allotment of death” is a powerful metaphor, emphasising that the hawk cultivates only “perfect kills” and “death”.In Hawk Roosting, the earth is “face upward for my inspection” and he can “revolve it all slowly”. This is again illustrative of the particular arrogance of the hawk, who believes that “it is all mine” and there for his own “advantage”.

| Posted on 2007-02-06 | by a guest

.: :.

In today's poem, Hughes uses the thought-processes of the hawk as a
metaphor for the mind of every megalomaniac who ever lived - the poem
resonates with dictatorial phrases and turns of expression. The hawk
lives according to the rules of its own morality ('No arguments assert
my right'), in a world where might is right. 'I kill where I please
because it is all mine' - violent, yes, but also chillingly insightful.
The massive egotism running through the poem is, again, telling in its
implications for the human world.

| Posted on 2006-05-14 | by Approved Guest

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On a deeper level, I think that Hughes is likening the Hawk to humanity. I had to write a series of jounrals on this poem for an english class and after writing the first one, mainly talking about the plot, I realized it sounded a lot like humans and their views. The vanity of humans and the belief of their dominance and superiority over all else is evident here. Also the fact that the hawk believes that "I kill where I please because it is all mine." This shows an inherent attitude in humans.

| Posted on 2005-11-29 | by Approved Guest

.: Pride and Misjudgment :.

In this poem the writer suggests that the hawk is very proud. It also shows that the hawk has been mislead in alot of cases. He believes things that cannot be true. Example: He belives that his area will never change, also he believes that the world revolves around him. I think the writer is very interested in the way animals think and in this poem he shows that the hawk is proud but also dumb.






































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| Posted on 2005-05-02 | by Approved Guest