Ted Hughes's Hawk Roosting - Essay Example

Ted Hughes was one of the most important post-war poets of England. He wrote about many topics, but he liked to write about simple things that had deeper meanings. "He was enchanted by the beauty of the natural world, frequently portraying its cruel and savage temperament in his work as a reflection of his own personal suffering and mystical beliefs – convinced that modern man had lost touch with the primordial side of his nature” (Bardell, 2000).

Hughes uses a freestyle verse in this poem. There are six stanzas in it, but none of them follow traditional poetic forms or a set meter.

The mind of the hawk is flighty but shows two primary drives -- an appreciation for beautiful detail and a deadly purpose.

Hughes demonstrates a strong understanding of the hawk's world as something that is both beautiful and terrible. He says, "The earth's face is upward" (8) as he talks about the trees poking into the sky, the buoyant air of the mountain, and the warm sunshine. These details bring to mind a beautiful spring day glittering with promise. This dream of spring is brought to an end, though, as the hawk reflects on his purpose, to “kill where I please because it is all mine” (14). The focus of the poem is always kept on the hawk's killing nature. The beauty around the hawk is not appreciated as beauty but as something that aids the hawk in its quests instead. The high trees are "convenient" and the "air's buoyancy and the sun's ray / Are of advantage to me" (5-7). From this very believable and very disturbing view of the hawk and its purpose, Hughes turns this image into a symbol for the human race.  

The hawk stands in the place of mankind, taking on the thoughts of humans. This is communicated by the poet's use of the first-person 'I.' As the reader reads through the poem, the thoughts become related to human behavior. Slowly, it is realized that men also have these disturbing thoughts, such as "I kill where I please because it is all mine" (14). This comparison makes the human way of thinking about the planet seem very foolish and delusional.

Through his language and style, Hughes takes his reader into the mind and world of a hawk, never letting them forget that the hawk's purpose is to kill. The reader realizes that the hawk is delusional in thinking that he is the master of all creation, but then has to realize that this same judgment could be applied to the reader. In "Hawk Roosting," Hughes convincingly and characteristically uses a simple element of nature to make a larger human comment.

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