“Hawk Roosting” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Hawk Roosting”

“Hawk Roosting” Summary

“Hawk Roosting” Themes

• 

  Nature and Violence

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-24

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Hawk Roosting”

• Lines 1-4

  I sit in ...
  ... kills and eat.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  The convenience of ...
  ... for my inspection

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  My feet are ...
  ... in my foot

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  Or fly up, ...
  ... off heads -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  The allotment of ...
  ... assert my right:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

  The sun is ...
  ... things like this.

  

  

  

  

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“Hawk Roosting” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 3: “h,” “h,” “h”
  • Line 6: “a”
  • Line 8: “f,” “f”
  • Line 11: “m,” “f,” “m,” “f”
  • Line 12: “m,” “f”
  • Line 13: “f”
  • Line 14: “I,” “I,” “i,” “i”
  • Line 15: “i,” “i”
  • Line 16: “M,” “m”
  • Line 17: “a,” “o”
  • Line 19: “Th,” “th,” “th”
  • Line 24: “th,” “th”

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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  Where allusion appears in the poem:

  • Line 10: “Creation”
  • Line 12: “Creation”

• Antanaclasis

  

  

  

  

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  Where antanaclasis appears in the poem:

  • Lines 10-12: “It took the whole of Creation / To produce my foot, my each feather: / Now I hold Creation in my foot”

• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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  Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

  • Line 5: “The convenience of the high trees!”

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “wood, my”
  • Line 2: “Inaction, no”
  • Line 11: “foot, my”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “t,” “t,” “d,” “d”
  • Line 2: “n,” “n,” “n,” “f,” “f”
  • Line 3: “n,” “h,” “k,” “h,” “n,” “h,” “k”
  • Line 4: “r,” “n,” “p,” “r,” “r,” “p,” “r”
  • Line 5: “n,” “n,” “n,” “r,” “s”
  • Line 6: “r,” “s,” “n,” “c,” “n,” “s,” “n,” “r”
  • Line 7: “r”
  • Line 8: “th,” “r,” “th,” “f,” “p,” “r,” “f,” “r,” “n,” “p,” “n”
  • Line 9: “ck,” “k”
  • Line 10: “t,” “t,” “k,” “C,” “r”
  • Line 11: “r,” “m,” “f,” “m,” “f”
  • Line 12: “n,” “n,” “f”
  • Line 13: “l,” “v,” “l,” “v,” “ll,” “l,” “l”
  • Line 14: “k,” “ll,” “l,” “s,” “c,” “s,” “s,” “ll”
  • Line 15: “r,” “n,” “r,” “n,” “m”
  • Line 16: “M,” “m,” “r,” “r,” “r”
  • Line 17: “Th,” “t,” “t,” “th”
  • Line 18: “th,” “th,” “t,” “t”
  • Line 19: “Th,” “th,” “th”
  • Line 20: “r,” “m,” “t,” “r,” “t,” “m,” “r,” “t”
  • Line 21: “n,” “n”
  • Line 22: “N,” “n,” “n,” “n”
  • Line 23: “M,” “m,” “n,” “n”
  • Line 24: “ng,” “th,” “ng,” “th”

• Diacope

  

  

  

  

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  Where diacope appears in the poem:

  • Line 3: “hooked,” “hooked”
  • Line 10: “Creation”
  • Line 11: “foot”
  • Line 12: “Creation,” “foot”
  • Line 22: “changed”
  • Line 23: “change”

• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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  Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “closed.”
  • Line 3: “feet:”
  • Line 4: “eat.”
  • Line 5: “trees!”
  • Line 7: “me;”
  • Line 8: “inspection.”
  • Line 9: “bark.”
  • Line 11: “feather:”
  • Line 13: “slowly -”
  • Line 14: “mine.”
  • Line 15: “body:”
  • Line 16: “heads -”
  • Line 17: “death.”
  • Line 19: “living.”
  • Line 20: “right:”
  • Line 21: “me.”
  • Line 22: “began.”
  • Line 23: “change.”
  • Line 24: “this.”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “dream”
  • Line 3: “Between”
  • Line 6: “ray”
  • Line 7: “Are”
  • Line 10: “Creation”
  • Line 11: “To”
  • Line 12: “foot”
  • Line 13: “Or”
  • Line 18: “direct”
  • Line 19: “Through”

• Personification

  

  

  

  

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  Where personification appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-24

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “y,” “eye”
  • Line 2: “ea”
  • Line 3: “ee,” “ee”
  • Line 4: “ee,” “e,” “ea,” “e,” “ea”
  • Line 9: “o,” “o”
  • Line 20: “y,” “i”
  • Line 23: “y,” “eye”

“Hawk Roosting” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• The Wood
• Falsifying
• Buoyancy
• Creation
• Sophistry
• Manners
• Allotment
• Assert

• (Location in poem: Line 1: “the ,” “wood”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Hawk Roosting”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Hawk Roosting” Speaker

“Hawk Roosting” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Hawk Roosting”

More “Hawk Roosting” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Reading by Hughes — Hughes reads the poem in his powerful Yorkshire accent.  

  • Plath and Hughes Interviewed — A fascinating discussion with Ted Hughes and the American poet (and Hughes's wife) Sylvia Plath.  

  • More Poems and Biography — Resources from the Poetry Foundation on Hughes and his work. 

  • Ted Hughes at the British Library — More resources and a biography of Ted Hughes, from the British Library.

  • A Documentary about Hughes — A BBC show about Hughes' life and work. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Ted Hughes

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  • Relic

  • Roe-Deer

  • Snowdrop

  • Telegraph Wires

  • The Harvest Moon

  • The Horses

  • The Jaguar

  • The Other

  • The Shot

  • The Thought Fox

  • Wind