Hello Friends...

Sure, we all are doing well... Be careful, we must stay fit and shouldn't fall ill getting our studies affected. We shall eat and drink healthy, exercise regularly, and won't avoid our domestic and social responsibilities. And whatever time we get for ourselves at the end of the day, we must study hard for most of the time, so that we learn to think... and learn. We simply cannot afford to stop thinking, for we are learners, and we are the chosen ones who got the scope to learn...

Let's learn to think first...

'Hawk Roosting'- by Ted Hughes

Ted Hughes
© estate of Fay Godwin / British Library / National Portrait Gallery, London

Hawk Roosting

Here we meet to study the poem Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes together. Before we start reading the poem together, sharing our views, why don't we go through the text on our own for at least once to see what we are going to deal with here?-

Reading the Text

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 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 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.

Listening to the Text

How did your first reading go? Do you think you have been able to decode the essence/ theme of the poem? How about listening to a good recital/ loud reading of the poem as well? Often, the intended tone and rhythm of a poem helps us to disseminate, to understand the meaning... Why don't you try to listen to the poem here?

Was it helpful? Well, they claim it to be the voice of Ted Hughes, the poet himself. I am not sure about the authenticity of the claim, but I will definitely admit that the recital is up to the mark, and therefore, is helpful in understanding the meaning intended. Have you found the recital helpful?

Getting Prepared

Now join us in our discussion if you are ready. If you want to go through the text once more before you join, you are free to take your time to read the poem again, or listen to the recital, or do both, as per your need and choice.

The Title 

As we all know, hawk is a bird of prey. The title here refers to some hawk roosting, or preparing to rest and sleep. Is the text going to turn out to be a naturist text with a hint of romanticism?

The First Line, the Beginning...

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

The Use of 'in'

Isn’t the use of the preposition ‘in’ remarkable? Wouldn’t you have used ‘on’ here? Don’t you feel ‘on’ sounding more appropriate, or natural, when the object of the preposition is 'the top of the wood' ?

The 'top'

Actually the use of the preposition in here is the clue to guide us to read the meaning of the word ‘top’. If ‘top’ is being used to refer to a spot, area, or zone, as in the sentence 'I am on the top of the building.', the preposition 'on' sounds appropriate and might be the appropriate preposition to use. But what if the word ‘top’ is used to refer to a position, or a stratum, for instance,- 'I am going the buy the books in the top of the selling list.'? How would you like to interpret the idea of someone belonging to the topmost strata of the wood, or jungle? Someone like the lion, the king of the jungle, as we have mostly read in our childhood fables?

The Narrative 

And what about the narrative? It's a first person narrative for sure, the speaker addressing the listeners (us, the readers?) to speak about him/herself...

The Second Line 

Inaction, no falsifying dream

In Action?

Closed eyes may apparently hint 'inaction', or lack of activities? But what about our mental or intellectual activities? We can get engaged in such activities even with our eyes closed, right? Shall we read the word ‘inaction’ with a little pause after the prefix, as ‘in action’?

Passive Dreaming?

And conscious dreams are rarely falsifying, isn’t it? Rather, such dreams are the most intensive of all our cognitive exercises…

And, do you feel here that the negation of the hawk's dreams as something "falsifying" creates a sense of the bird's inner life and motivations, in some way?

The Third Line

Between my hooked head and hooked feet:

Are You Hooked in, by Now?

The adjective ‘hooked’ might be quite literal in here, describing the shape of both the head and the feet,- curved like a hook. But, is there a chance that the head and the feet are hooked and bound to something else, in control and charge of the bird itself?

And before we move on to the next line, do you feel that the repetition of the word 'hooked' might be a deliberate attempt by the poet to highlight Nature's design to build the predator bird stronger and more efficient for hunting and killing?

The Fourth Line

Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.

Do you call this sleep at all? How engaged the brain might be as it rehearses it’s practice of killing perfectly to eat?

The Speaker 

Shall we now identify the speaker as a hawk, a predator bird, taking clue from the very title of the poem, and going through the first stanza? How do you find the personality of the speaker here? Do you think its hooked head and feet are just evolutionary adaptations that provide the bird the advantage to be the predator, hunting down the other weaklings? Or do you feel that those are the shackles that limit the bird to be as the Nature has designed the bird to be?

The Second Stanza

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.

High trees serve as high perches for the bird flying high above in the sky to rest if needed, the air’s buoyancy give the bird the needed lift. The sun’s rays reveal the hiding preys below There’s the entire planet lying below to get scanned and inspected by the bird above. 

Do you feel, by any chance, that the entire universe, or Nature itself, supports the bird to exert its supremacy, like being the ruler of the jungle?

The Third Stanza 

The First Line 

My feet are locked upon the rough bark.

So we have the bird perching on some high tree, right, holding the branch securely? 

But what if we explore the other possibilities of meaning?-

What if, if the bird is captive and is chained to some tree? 

And, what if, if it implies that the bird is targetting something covered in a rough 'bark' considering that the poet might have also used the word to mean the rough skin of some animal?

The Next Three Lines

It took the whole of Creation

To produce my foot, my each feather:

Now I hold Creation in my foot.

The Tone

Would you like to comment upon the tone in here? Do you find it too loud and bragging?

Frankenstein's Monster?

Haven’t you ever heard of the hunter being hunted? The mighty force of 'Creation', or Nature, which creates the entire universe, though ironical, might even sometimes get controlled by the forces created by itself.

Another Perspective, a Wild One...

Or, you know, the entire stanza might also just be a reference to the typical mating ritual of the bird. Both the male and female use to fly together in circles. As they reach a certain height, the male dives towards the female and gets back to the height attained previously. They repeat the process for a few times and then finally the male latches onto the female and together fall freely. If we read ‘Creation’ as the female of the species, does it render a different perspective?

The Fourth Stanza

The First Line 

Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly-

If you have agreed with me about the probable reference to the mating practice of the bird earlier, this line may seem to be a continuation of the previous three lines from the earlier stanza, right? But, even without this perspective, we still have a lot of scope to continue our journey...

Does the bird ascend higher to gain more power, circling above slowly, only to swoop and strike faster and harder? Higher position lets you gain some potential energy. You must have learned this in your science class. Higher position also lets you gain on some social power and domination, you must have observed this in your own experience.

 

Do you find the poem still sounding like a naturist poem? Do you feel that the bird here might be allusive of something else? Do you think that the bird is functioning as some central metaphor? Else, what good reason the poet might have to compose a poem on some bird of predatory nature?

The Next Three Lines 

I kill where I please because it is all mine.

There is no sophistry in my body: 

My manners are tearing off heads-

Do you find the speaker sounding extremely rogue, all of a sudden, for reasons we don’t know? Being too possessive, or mad to possess? Do you sense a hint of brute force being flexed?

The Fifth Stanza

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 Structure for the Argument 

Have you noticed how the first line of the stanza serves as the title for the unit? The entire stanza elaborates the ultimate power and rogueness that allots, and delivers(?) death to others living? Do you sense the brutal denial of other’s arguments for their rights for life? Wherefrom, do you believe, that one might gain such power and authority to exert his/her choice without anybody's approval?

The Final Stanza

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.

The Brief Statements 

The hawk's statement in the final stanza is a declaration of its unyielding dominance and control, isn't it?. The use of short, simple sentences adds to the sense of finality and certainty, for sure. 

Do you have anything to say about the bird's rigidity declared with pride? If change is shunned, how would progress be achieved? 

However, there are things that apparently seem like being eternal, like the power dynamics between the powerful and the oppressed. Do you find some almighty predator boasting it’s queer mind? Do hawks, as found in the nature, at all reflect such bruteness and cruelty without reason?

The Context

Let us consider the historical context: the poem was written in 1960, a time to contemplate post World War II power dynamics and the rise of fascist leaders. Ted Hughes' background and experiences significantly influenced his portrayal of nature and power. Growing up in rural Yorkshire, England, Hughes had a deep connection with nature, which is reflected in his work. His experiences in World War II and his personal struggles might also have shaped his perspective on power and violence.

The Central Metaphor 

Hughes' exposure to the natural world and its brutal realities is perhaps the reason why we have the predator bird as the central metaphor in building up the argument in 'Hawk Roosting'. The poem's hawk embodies the raw power and dominance that Hughes often experienced in the world he was living in. The poet's own sense of vulnerability and struggle is established in contrast with the hawk's unyielding arrogance, highlighting the complex relationships between power, nature, and humanity. The truth after all remains that though none among the predators in  nature, even the hawks, do not live and behave so disrespectfully towards others like the hawk in the poem. But the fascist powers do, and that was his concern. 

Don't we share the same concern, even today? Look around, into your family, into your society, into your state... What do you say?