Hawk Roostin
...s a master of killing. His self-confidence is also clear from the constant repetition of "I" and "My" throughout the poem. This recurrence highlights the sheer power the hawk. It also signifies a controlling nature and reliance on his own self importance. In certain aspects, Hughes uses the hawk as a synecdoche, a small part of the natural world to personify nature as a whole. Hughes sees nature as a bird of prey, destroying and consuming, with no consideration or sympathy for anything in its way, and the hawk itself is a perfect representation of that. The parallel that Hughes has drawn between nature and the hawk demonstrates their terrifying violence and indifference to human consciousness, yet there is also an undertone of awe and admiration. Although Ted Hughes considers the hawk/nature as a dangerous, inconsiderate predator, there is a certain amount of respect for such a powerful entity. Mother nature in her most destructive and potent state can still be a beautiful, and amazing sight to behold. Hughes takes that into consideration when personifying nature as a hawk. Even phenomena that we find pleasant or exhilarating - “The convenience of the high trees/the air's buoyancy and the sun's ray" - are "of advantage" to the hawk in its hunt for prey (5-8). There are hints of nature’s beauty and tranquility in the poem, yet the tone remains violent and destructive. At times, nature may seem tranquil and at peace, but in a second, brutality takes the place of harmony, and killing replaces serenity. The title “Hawk Roosting” signifies that instantaneous transformation. Even the lines “I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed/Inaction, no falsifying dream” suggests that a danger lurks just beneath the surface of harmony, an artificial “calm before the storm” (1-2). The fact that the hawk even “in sleep rehearse(s) perfect kills,” shows that nature’s vengeance never rests (4). Hughes uses familiar, everyday language, and yet, it is not colloquial. Despite the fact that his vocabulary is that of everyday speech, the care he takes in his word choice is highly effective. His combination of concrete and abstract diction paints a distinct picture of both an actual hawk hunting its prey, and that of nature’s fury. The hawk does not mangle his meanings with fancy words and hidden meanings. Likewise, nature unleashes without apology, question, or doubt. Both nature and the hawk are straightforward and to the point. They are neither fickle nor vague. The hawk flies directly into your face and lets you know exactly what and who he is. “My manners are tearing off heads/For the one path of my flight is direct/Through the bones of the living” (16,18-19). This hawk means business, as does Nature in all her temperamental rages. In the animal world, survival depends ...