Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 16 views

    Keww 115

    Uploaded by

    DHRUV TEKUMALA
    The poem is narrated from the perspective of a hawk sitting in a tree. It describes the hawk's physical prowess and deadly hunting abilities. The hawk sees itself as the master of its domain, holding "Creation" in its foot. It kills wherever and whenever it wants, with brutal frankness and without justification. The title "Hawk Roosting" refers to the hawk resting in the treetop, observing its territory with an unchanging eye, intent on keeping its dominion.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Keww 115

    Uploaded by

    DHRUV TEKUMALA
    16 views3 pages
    The poem is narrated from the perspective of a hawk sitting in a tree. It describes the hawk's physical prowess and deadly hunting abilities. The hawk sees itself as the master of its domain, holding "Creation" in its foot. It kills wherever and whenever it wants, with brutal frankness and without justification. The title "Hawk Roosting" refers to the hawk resting in the treetop, observing its territory with an unchanging eye, intent on keeping its dominion.

    Original Title

    keww115

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The poem is narrated from the perspective of a hawk sitting in a tree. It describes the hawk's physical prowess and deadly hunting abilities. The hawk sees itself as the master of its domain, holding "Creation" in its foot. It kills wherever and whenever it wants, with brutal frankness and without justification. The title "Hawk Roosting" refers to the hawk resting in the treetop, observing its territory with an unchanging eye, intent on keeping its dominion.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    16 views3 pages

    Keww 115

    Uploaded by

    DHRUV TEKUMALA
    The poem is narrated from the perspective of a hawk sitting in a tree. It describes the hawk's physical prowess and deadly hunting abilities. The hawk sees itself as the master of its domain, holding "Creation" in its foot. It kills wherever and whenever it wants, with brutal frankness and without justification. The title "Hawk Roosting" refers to the hawk resting in the treetop, observing its territory with an unchanging eye, intent on keeping its dominion.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    Hawk Roosting 121

    7 Hawk Roosting
    Ted Hughes

    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 sub’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.

    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.

    Rationalised 2023-24
    122 Woven Words

    ABOUT THE POET

    Ted Hughes (1930–1998) completed his


    education at Pembroke College, Cambridge. In
    1956, he married the poet Sylvia Plath. He tried
    to make a living in America by teaching and
    writing. Finally, he returned to England.
    The most remarkable quality of Hughes’ poems is an intense
    and obsessive fascination with the world of birds and
    animals; and though essentially about birds, animals and
    fishes, his poems shock us with unusual phrases and
    violent images.
    The above poem is in the form of a monologue.

    F Notice the use of the following phrases in the poem and guess
    what they mean in the context

    air’s buoyancy sophistry in my body

    UNDERSTANDING THE POEM


    1. Comment on the physical features of the hawk highlighted in
    the poem and their significance.
    2. How does the poem emphasise the physical prowess of the hawk?
    3. ‘There is no sophistry in my body’—this statement expresses
    the brutal frankness of the hawk. Does the poet suggest
    something through this statement?
    4. ‘Now I hold Creation in my foot’—explain the centrality of this
    assertion in the poem. What makes the hawk’s assertion of its
    invincibility so categorical?
    5. Why is the poem entitled ‘Hawk Roosting’?
    6. Bring out the parallel suggested between the predatory instincts
    of the bird and human behaviour.

    TRY THIS OUT


    1. Consult a dictionary or an encyclopedia to differentiate between
    the following birds

    eagle hawk kite vulture

    Rationalised 2023-24
    Hawk Roosting 123
    2. To what aspects of human behaviour do the following adjectives
    apply

    eagle-eyed hawkish

    SUGGESTED READING
    1. ‘The Lake’ by Ted Hughes
    2. ‘Poem in October’ by Dylan Thomas.

    Rationalised 2023-24

    You might also like