BSc BA ADP English Notes Poem Hawk's Monologue (Ted Hughes) Reference Context Explanation

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Poem:

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 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.

My feet are locked upon the rough bark.

It took the whole of Creation

To produce my foot, my each feather:

Now I hold Creation in my foot

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 –

The allotment of death.

For the one path of my flight is direct

Through the bones of the living.

No arguments assert my right:

The sun is behind me.

Nothing has changed since I began.

My eye has permitted no change.

I am going to keep things like this.

Reference, Context and Explanation:

Lines 1-4: I sit in ... and eat.

Reference: 

These lines have been taken from the poem "Hawk's Monologue" by Ted Hughes.

Context: 

The poet tells us in this poem about the hawk that is the lord and ruler of all the birds of the forest. The hawk is boasting of its great physical force, precision of attack and over-all rule over the birds. It feels that it would maintain its rule forever.

Explanation:

The poet says that the hawk normally lines in the top branches of the trees in the forest. Sometimes it closes its eyes because it is not doing any work at that time. But it does not see false dreams. At the most it is doing rehearsal of killing and eating its prey during the dream.

Lines 5-8: The convenience ... my inspection.

Reference: 

These lines have been taken from the poem "Hawk's Monologue" by Ted Hughes.

Context: 

The poet tells us in this poem about the hawk that is the lord and ruler of all the birds of the forest. The hawk is boasting of its great physical force, precision of attack and over-all rule over the birds. It feels that it would maintain its rule forever.

Explanation:

According to the hawk, God has made its life fully convenient. High trees, buoyant air, rays of the sun and the vast surface of the earth _ all these things have been made by God for its convenience. These are all advantageous for it.

Lines 9-12: My feet are ... in my foot.

Reference: 

These lines have been taken from the poem "Hawk's Monologue" by Ted Hughes.

Context: 

The poet tells us in this poem about the hawk that is the lord and ruler of all the birds of the forest. The hawk is boasting of its great physical force, precision of attack and over-all rule over the birds. It feels that it would maintain its rule forever.

Explanation:

The hawk says that its feet/claws are curved and it can catch hold of the rough trunk of a tree by these. Nature has taken enough care and consideration in making its claws and feathers. It is now so perfect that it can hold any bird [a part of creation] in its feet.

Lines 13-16: Or fly up ... tearing of heads.

Reference: 

These lines have been taken from the poem "Hawk's Monologue" by Ted Hughes.

Context: 

The poet tells us in this poem about the hawk that is the lord and ruler of all the birds of the forest. The hawk is boasting of its great physical force, precision of attack and over-all rule over the birds. It feels that it would maintain its rule forever.

Explanation:

The hawk says that it can catch any bird or fly up any time at its ease. It can fly fastly as well as slowly at its own sweet will. There is no false reasoning in its body. Its body is perfectly well-adjusted and precise. Its work is to kill the birds at its own will.

Lines 17-20: The allotment ... my right.

Reference: 

These lines have been taken from the poem "Hawk's Monologue" by Ted Hughes.

Context: 

The poet tells us in this poem about the hawk that is the lord and ruler of all the birds of the forest. The hawk is boasting of its great physical force, precision of attack and over-all rule over the birds. It feels that it would maintain its rule forever.

Explanation:

The hawk says that killing birds and allotting death to them is its job. It flies straight "through" the body of the living birds, killing them all at once in the air at its own sweet will. It need not assert or prove its right. Every bird knows that.

Lines 21-24: The sun is ... things like this.

Reference: 

These lines have been taken from the poem "Hawk's Monologue" by Ted Hughes.

Context: 

The poet tells us in this poem about the hawk that is the lord and ruler of all the birds of the forest. The hawk is boasting of its great physical force, precision of attack and over-all rule over the birds. It feels that it would maintain its rule forever.

Explanation:

The hawk says that is has all the sources of power and authority at its back. Right from the time of the beginning of its rule over the world of birds, it has never relaxed its rule. It hopes to continue like the same in future. (But here, the hawk is wrong. It will die one day as it is mortal. Its rule is surely to come to an end one day.)