Hawk Roosting

This poem starts with the word “I” which right away shows readers the arrogance and self centeredness of whomever “I” is. Also, throughout the poem, there is constantly a reference to “I” or to “Me” which confirms the ego of the speaker. In the first line, he states, “I sit in the top of the wood my eyes closed,” which informs readers that these are his pure thoughts, and that the outside world is not even a factor at this point. The wood can represent a tree, but metaphorically, the wood represents his kingdom, or possibly even the world. He goes on to say “inaction, no falsifying dream between my hooked head and hooked feet.” Inaction means “lack of action where some is expected or appropriate.” So he feels that he doesn’t need to make any sort of movement or action, because he himself defines movement and action. He makes clear just because his eyes are closed, does not mean that he is dreaming. While seemingly asleep, he rehearses “perfect kills and eat.” This implies that other lives are not important to him, unless they are his prey. The high trees are convenient because he is elevated, mentally, physically, and socially. The buoyancy of the air, and the sun’s ray being of advantage to him shows how arrogant he is. The definition of advantage is a condition or circumstance that puts one in a favorable or superior position. So putting this into context, it almost sounds as if he feels The Hawk is above the elements. They too are at his disposal. Also these lines have strong direct tones towards the notion of the poem being directly about a Hawk. With the references to the “hooked feet” “perfect kills and eat” “convenience of the high trees” and “the airs buoyancy” bring in the metaphorical references to the person in power. Also it is no coincidence that this is the only rhyming pattern in the poem. The “double e” rhyming sound gives attention to the noise that a hawk makes. I thought this was pretty clever of Hughes.

He feels that since he is literally elevated or “high,” it is his duty to inspect the “upward” facing earth. And not only that it is his duty, but that the earth looks up to him for inspection. With this line coming after the light death tone in line 4, its like he’s saying it is his duty to kill at times.

Closing out the poem, he makes it clear that the sun is behind him, which gives me the visual of it being a cold world, physically and metaphorically. Without the sun, there is no heat, and also this shows not only how powerful he is, but how self centered he is. The vessel that essentially provides life (photosynthesis) and that humanity depends on for survival for many things (light, heat, vitamin D, etc.) has now been replaces with a new vessel that is even more powerful than the sun.