Question

Comment on the physical features of the hawk highlighted in the poem and their significance.

Answer 1

Hawk Roosting signifies self-esteem or self-assertion of a Hawk that is so alienated from the human world. The poem is a dramatic monologue in a non-human voice; i.e., of the Hawk, who carries the false belief of himself being the most superior living being. The Hawk brandishes its supreme ego by boasting of its physical features. The outrageous fashion in which he brands his physiology insinuates his arrogance. The much-vaunted self-praise has criticised as an instance of fascism. The poet has brought out savagery by describing the unsophisticated physiology of the Hawk. In the first stanza of the poem, the Hawk claims to limit the whole of the world between his “hooked head” and “hooked feet”. The Hawk insinuates himself to embody the whole of creation and even while he is asleep he “rehearses perfect kills and eats” in his dream. In the third stanza, we see the Hawk challenging God. He flatters himself that “it took the whole of Creation” to design him, his foot, his each and every feather. Now the roles are reversed and he possesses and exercises his power over the whole world.