Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes ( Modern Literature, Modern Poetry)

Modern Poetry by famous Modern Poet:

Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes

Short Summary & Critical Analysis:

Animals is not a new subject for Ted Hughes. He would connect with nature through animals. Animals are like more than animals for him and their imagery is very important as it is his signature quality.

·       Stanza 1:

I sit in. . . . and eat.

Hawks would choose the top most part of the trees where there is calm and composure. Inaction  here is not for laziness,  it’s just a lull before the storm, before the bird takes action. There is no distraction in his thinking. If he is sitting with closed eyes, doesn’t mean he is dreaming or unaware. The word OR tells you that if he is thinking something, he is doing some kind of rehearsal how to kill, or even if you think he is sleeping, he is thinking about killing. Perfect means, with perfection, no error or mistake in killing he would do.

·       Stanza 2:

The convenience. . . .my inspection.

Here poet wants us look at the arrogance of the bird. Three agents of nature that are high trees,

air and sun  are giving advantage to the bird. Air is very convenient as due to the thrust of the wind  birds fly. Fourth agent that is giving benefit to the bird is earth because he is sitting at tallest place. How arrogantly he considers everything around him, are sub servient to him, serving tool to his living.

·       Stanza 3:

My feet. . . . in my foot.

Again we see the arrogance hunting in the tone. Talent of this bird, he says that it took the whole of creation to produce my foot. There is simply no error. When I sit, my feet are locked up, and each feather is designed perfectly as a lot of craftsmanship is involved in designing my body. I have become a creator now as I hold creation in my foot. This shows his godly claim and his height of arrogance.

·       Stanza 4:

Or fly up. . . . off heads.

Sophistry means beauty and here it is used as a negative meaning. He says there is no complication in my body, so I can kill where I want to. The one thing he is sure about is his ability to kill mercilessly tearing off heads.

·       5th Stanza:

The allotment. . . . my right.

He allots death to people and there is no chance for the prey to escape. There is no arguments or doubts if he could get successful in killing his prey or not. Because he is so talented and so powerful that he travels directly tearing off the bones of his prey.

·       Stanza 6:

The sun. . . . like this.

In the last stanza, hawk says that sun is behind me and nothing has changed since he began his journey of killing. It is something very ironical because when sun is behind you, your shadow falls on everything. He looks at his own shadow and there is no change. He cannot see a change in the scene or his life and he is right in his claim.

Change is the only constant in nature, but the hawk is so much absorbed into its arrogance that the shadow  has blurred his vision. He cannot see beyond it. If he cannot see any change it means he is blind and it is his hamartia that makes him mortal, flawed and not perfect. He would not really see any change, and not ready to change either. The hawk appears to be Megalomaniac in this poem, who is delusional about his own power. He feels that there is nothing falsifying about him as he is the supreme being.