"Hawk Roosting" is a poem by Ted Hughes, one of the 20th century's most prominent poets. In the poem, taken from Hughes's second collection, Lupercal, a hawk is given the power of speech and thought, allowing the reader to imagine what it's like to inhabit the instincts, attitudes, and behaviors of such a creature. The hawk has an air of authority, looking down on the world from its high vantage point in the trees and feeling like everything belongs to it. The poem is particularly keen to stress the way that violence, in the hawk's world at least, is not some kind of moral wrong—but a part of nature. "Hawk Roosting" is one of a large number of poems in which Hughes explores the animal world.
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The Full Text of “Hawk Roosting”
The Full Text of “Hawk Roosting”
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“Hawk Roosting” Summary
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“Hawk Roosting” Themes
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Nature and Violence
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-24
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Hawk Roosting”
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Lines 1-4
I sit in ...
... kills and eat. -
Lines 5-8
The convenience of ...
... for my inspection -
Lines 9-12
My feet are ...
... in my foot -
Lines 13-16
Or fly up, ...
... off heads - -
Lines 17-20
The allotment of ...
... assert my right: -
Lines 21-24
The sun is ...
... things like this.
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“Hawk Roosting” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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”
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Allusion
Where allusion appears in the poem:- Line 10: “Creation”
- Line 12: “Creation”
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Antanaclasis
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”
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Apostrophe
Where apostrophe appears in the poem:- Line 5: “The convenience of the high trees!”
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Caesura
Where caesura appears in the poem:- Line 1: “wood, my”
- Line 2: “Inaction, no”
- Line 11: “foot, my”
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Consonance
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”
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Diacope
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”
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End-Stopped Line
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.”
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Enjambment
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”
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Personification
Where personification appears in the poem:- Lines 1-24
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Assonance
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”
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“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
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(Location in poem: Line 1: “the ,” “wood”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Hawk Roosting”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Hawk Roosting” Speaker
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“Hawk Roosting” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Hawk Roosting”
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More “Hawk Roosting” Resources
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External Resources
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A Reading by Hughes — Hughes reads the poem in his powerful Yorkshire accent.
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Plath and Hughes Interviewed — A fascinating discussion with Ted Hughes and the American poet (and Hughes's wife) Sylvia Plath.
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More Poems and Biography — Resources from the Poetry Foundation on Hughes and his work.
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Ted Hughes at the British Library — More resources and a biography of Ted Hughes, from the British Library.
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A Documentary about Hughes — A BBC show about Hughes' life and work.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Ted Hughes
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