Eduqas Poetry Anthology Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes

Eduqas Poetry Anthology Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes– Activity A Activity B Activity C Activity D Activity E Activity F Choose a task

Eduqas Poetry Anthology Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes– The poem is about a point of view. Read the poem a few times. What point of view, emotion or state of mind is being created here? 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. 1 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. 1 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 1 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 – 1 The allotment of death. For the one path of my flight is direct Through the bones of the living. No arguments assert my right: 1 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. Activity A Menu Select words and phrases to support your views - as a start underline how much the personal pronoun or possessive adjective is used. Click to show highlighted words.

Eduqas Poetry Anthology Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes– Activity B The poet conveys the notion that the bird is an unstoppable force of nature in these verses. Menu How does Ted Hughes do this? I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed. Inaction, no falsifying dream feet: Between my hooked head and hooked feet Where does it show that the Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat. creature is sure that it cannot be 1 The convenience of the high trees! halted? The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray Are of advantage to me; What does this say about how And the earth’s face upward for my inspection. we look at things we consider 1 less significant than ourselves? My feet are locked upon the rough bark. It took the whole of Creation Consider the words highlighted To produce my foot, my each feather: in red. Click to show words. Now I hold creation in my foot 1 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 – 1 The allotment of death. For the one path of my flight is direct Through the bones of the living. No arguments assert my right: 1 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.

Welsh writing English Eduqas Poetryin Anthology Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes– Activity C In this part of the poem how is the hawk presented? Read these lines aloud and look closely Menu at language and punctuation. I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed. Inaction, no falsifying dream Between my hooked head and hooked feet: What is the perspective of the Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat. hawk on the world beneath? 1 The convenience of the high trees! What shows us how he views the The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray world and especially his special Are of advantage to me; place in the world? And the earth’s face upward for my inspection. 1 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 1 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 – 1 The allotment of death. For the one path of my flight is direct Through the bones of the living. No arguments assert my right: 1 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. How much effort has gone into creating every detail of his body? Click to show highlighted words. Look at the sentences. Most are end-stopped and unrhymed. What does this add to the tone of the poem?

Welsh writing English Eduqas Poetryin Anthology Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes– Activity D It is stressed that the hawk is fit for purpose. The bird is perfection and cannot or will not be Menu improved. I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed. Inaction, no falsifying dream Between my hooked head and hooked feet: Consider the words and Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat. 1 phrases shaded in yellow. How The convenience of the high trees! do they show us how certain The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray he is about where he is and Are of advantage to me; what he is? Click to show And the earth’s face upward for my inspection. 1 shaded words. My feet are locked upon the rough bark. How convincing is the voice? It took the whole of Creation To produce my foot, my each feather: Now I hold creation in my foot 1 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 – 1 The allotment of death. For the one path of my flight is direct Through the bones of the living. No arguments assert my right: 1 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.

Eduqas Poetry Anthology Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes– Activity E Read the poem aloud and expressively. Can you track both stillness and movement in this Menu poem? I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed. Inaction, no falsifying dream Between my hooked head and hooked feet: Select examples of when the Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat. bird is still and when the bird 1 The convenience of the high trees! moves. The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray Click to highlight movement Are of advantage to me; in red and stillness in blue. And the earth’s face upward for my inspection. 1 Are these sudden movements My feet are locked upon the rough bark. and why does it move? It took the whole of Creation To produce my foot, my each feather: Does the poem make you think Now I hold creation in my foot differently about the hawk and 1 other creatures? 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 – 1 The allotment of death. For the one path of my flight is direct Through the bones of the living. No arguments assert my right: 1 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.

Eduqas Poetry Anthology Hawk Roosting – by Ted Hughes– Activity F How does the poem’s form and structure help the impact or message of the poem? How is Menu punctuation used in this poem to produce an effect? I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed. Inaction, no falsifying dream Between my hooked head and hooked feet: Look at the pattern of four lined Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat. verses. Are they regular and do 1 The convenience of the high trees! they rhyme? Are there any run. The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray on lines? Are of advantage to me; Move from punctuation mark to And the earth’s face upward for my inspection. 1 punctuation mark. What is the My feet are locked upon the rough bark. effect? It took the whole of Creation To produce my foot, my each feather: Are the sentences more like Now I hold creation in my foot statements of fact? 1 Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly – What is the result? I kill where I please because it is all mine. There is no sophistry in my body: My manners are tearing off heads – 1 The allotment of death. For the one path of my flight is direct Through the bones of the living. No arguments assert my right: 1 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.