NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Poetry 7: Hawk Roosting

This poem signifies the self-assertion or self-esteem of a Hawk which is separated from the human world. The poem is a monologue which is dramatic in a non-human voice, i.e., of the Hawk carrying a false belief of being a superior living being. The supreme ego of the Hawk is brandished by boasting of its physical features. Its arrogance is insinuated by the outrageous fashion in which his physiology is branded. The vaunted self-praise as an instance of extreme conceit has been criticised. Savagery is brought out by the poet by explaining the naive physiology of the Hawk. In the first stanza, the Hawk claims that the whole world is limited between his “hooked head” and “hooked feet”. The Hawk thinks that the entire creation is personified by it, and even while asleep, it “rehearses perfect kills and eats” in its dream. In the third stanza, we observe that the Hawk challenges God. The Hawk compliments itself that “it took the whole of creation” to create it, its foot and its feather. The roles are now reversed, and it enjoys exercising its powers over the entire world.

The poem of Ted Hughes is famous for its obsessive and intense interest in the world of animals and birds. The violent images and unusual phrases shock the readers. In this poem, the poet presents the readers with a Hawk’s image whose physical appearance is highlighted from the Hawk’s perspective. The Hawk always rests on the top branch of the tree in the woods. The Hawk, which is egocentric, considers itself to be the most superior in the whole world. The superiority is expressed through its physiology. The wild features possessed by the Hawk make it look superior and ferocious to humans. It thinks of “perfect kills and eats” even in its dream. The Hawk trusts that it consumed a whole of the creation for its making, and as the roles are reversed, now it scans and flies round the world as if it were his creation. The way in which its authority is exercised by considering the entire world its own gives it the right to kill where it pleases. The Hawk swaggers and is arrogant. Its attitude is not appreciable as it thinks that it is followed by the Sun. It considers its eyes as the last authority and that it has “permitted no change” from when it began. The Hawk decides to keep it like this.

In the poem, the poet shows the Hawk as fallaciously authoritative and arrogant. The reader is notified of the grotesque and savage image of the Hawk in the poem. The way it is portrayed, criticising God and its creation, is considered self-indulgent narcissism. The way it thinks of itself as a superior authority depicts its boldness to challenge the moral and social laws of the world. When the Hawk conveys that “there is no sophistry in my body”, it is brutally frank and ruthless about its physiology. It is arrogant, and its self-admiration is evident by its impudence and insolence as it does not follow social or natural laws. It is not well mannered, knows only killing and ripping off the heads, and when it pleases the Hawk, the whole creation is submissive to it. The Hawk calls itself inscrutable, and its way of killing should not be questioned in the fifth stanza. The Hawk decides the death allotment, and there is no superior authority to challenge its flight, which is “through the bones of the living”.

As explained in the poem, the Hawk is shown to be indomitable and absolute. It considers itself the head of the woods. It sits on the top branch of the tree where all can be seen small beneath, which is considered as the highest of the social ladder. The Hawk conveys that the entire creation is taken to make it. The Hawk’s perspective is based on its vision. The small part of the jungle it sees while sitting on a high branch, it perceives to be the world and considers itself God. The petty egocentricity of the bird is humorous as during its flight, it is thought to be rotating the whole planet and moving life. Due to the reversal of the roles, the Hawk declares, “Now I hold creation in my foot”. The assertion of the Hawk is completely categorical. Hawk is under the control of the creation, and even the Sun obeys it. Nothing which its eyes do not agree to can exist or flourish.

The poem is about the Hawk, which is looking beneath its roosting place, which is the highest point in the entire jungle. It is a monologue which is dramatic in a non-human voice. The Hawk brags about its self-assertiveness and superiority. It symbolises the humans who do not think about what has been defined by society beyond our perspective. Ignorance is bliss in the instance of the Hawk. It narrates the story of how the entire world is personified by incarnating it as the superior of all living beings. It believes itself to be the centre of the cosmos. The entire poem is from the Hawk’s perspective, which is a bird of prey. Ted Hughes is famous for evoking violent imagery and his depiction of the battle of survival in his poetry. In this poem, the Hawk blathers about the supremacy inherited and its ignorance which it celebrates.

The poet has cited various examples of birds, animals or even fishes in his poems to construct parallelism between human behaviour and the animal world. Humans are social animals, and animal instinct is seated within us. It explores the proclivity of humans to be taken over by predatory instincts. In the poem, the hunger for authority and power by the Hawk is similar to the humans’ lust for supremacy and power. The perspective of the Hawk is limited or blinded by its vision, and in humans, ignorance is their bliss. A constant battle is present for the survival of the fittest, i.e., a jungle raj. The Hawk explains the power inherited from the roost where it lives. It blathers about its self-assertion and pride, similar to how humans do. It is unclear whether there is an element of truth in it or not, but whether the human or a Hawk, they claim their supremacy over the entire world. They believe to be the ruler of the whole creation and God, who are thankless beings weaving their own fall.