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Ted Hughes

Hawk Roosting

Some more challenging questions!

Keith Tankard
Knowledge4Africa.com
Updated: 1 March 2014
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A hawk sits atop a tree in a forest, meditating his place in creation. He sees himself as the pinnacle of the universe, around whom everything revolves.

He is a deadly killing machine, born to kill, born to rule the world. Or is this man we are talking about?



ABOUT THE POET

Ted Hughes was born in 1930 in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire. His early years were lived in a rural setting where he learnt the love of nature and its creatures.

He would later study at Cambridge University where he and some fellow students produced a poetry journal. It was at the launch of this journal that he met the American poet, Sylvia Plath, whom he soon married.

Hughes believed that poetry and magic were intertwined. Each is a healer. Each is the means to transport the human spirit from the dark, subconscious side of human nature into the world of light and well-being.

Poetry therefore lies in the realm of creation, in the world of everyday miracles. It is the pathway into the domain of the imagination, the journey into the inner universe and exploration of the genuine self.

The modern world, said Hughes, overvalues the rational, objective side of human nature. Such beliefs cause fear and pain. Healing and renewal, on the other hand, are the true purpose of poetry and magic.

The poet is therefore a shaman -- a magical medicine man who makes journeys to the underworld of the subconscious to bring back lost souls.

His wife, Sylvia Plath, committed suicide in February 1963 and her death affected Hughes profoundly. It would take four years before he published again -- and this collection contained some truly bleak poems.

Hughes died of a heart attack in October 1998 while undergoing treatment for colon cancer. He was 68 years of age.

Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:



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 hawk claims that he has "no falsifying dream". What does he mean by this? Is he referring to his own dreams or to the dreams of other creatures? (4)

[Need help?]

  • What do the words "in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat" tell you about the hawks existence? (4)

[Need help?]




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.
  • Explain the meaning of "And the earth's face upward for my inspection". What does this tell you of the hawk's attitude to life? (4)

[Need help?]




It took the whole of Creation
To produce my foot, my each feather:
Now I hold Creation in my foot
  • What do these words tell you about the ATTITUDE of the hawk? (4)

[Need help?]

  • How can the hawk hold Creation in his foot? (2)

[Need help?]




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 --
  • Explain how the hawk can "fly up, and revolve [Creation] slowly". (2)

[Need help?]




The hawk says that there is "no sophistry" in his body. His manners are tearing off heads.
  • What do we mean by "manners"? Is it possible even to use the word "manners" to describe the hawk? (4)

[Need help?]




For the one path of my flight is direct
Through the bones of the living.
No arguments assert my right.
  • What does the hawk mean when he says that the path of his flight is "direct through the bones of the living"? (4)

[Need help?]




GENERAL QUESTIONS:

What word BEST describes the attitude of the hawk? Explain your answer. (4)
  • conceit;
  • sophistication;
  • humility;
  • awkwardness;
  • arrogance.

[Need help?]




Is this poem in any way satirical? If so, what is the poet satirizing? Explain your answer. (4)

[Need help?]




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