Poetry Anthology - Hawk Roosting

Question 1

Key themes

Answer 1

Arrogance
Power
Nature

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

• 4 lines per stanza - deliberate and controlled to reflect action of the hawk
• enjambement + caesura - power (he controls the sentences)
• dramatic monologue from hawks perspective - silences the reader giving power to the hawk
• fascist tone

Question 3

Key quotes (6)

Answer 3

‘Hooked feet’ and ‘kills and eat’
‘Now I hold creation in my foot’
‘I kill where I please because it is all mine’
‘The allotment of death’ and ‘the bones of the living’

Question 4

Analyse ‘hooked feet’ and ‘kills and eat’

Answer 4

Only rhyming couplet in the poem
Emphasising his precision and how perfect his kills are

Question 5

Analyse ‘now I hold creation in my foot’

Answer 5

Suggests he is the top of creation
Arrogant tone
Almost ‘god like’ and better than others
Power and pride

Question 6

Analyse ‘I kill where I please because it is all mine’

Answer 6

Mostly monosyllabic language
Creates a sense of control - top of the food chain

Question 7

Analyse ‘the allotment of death’ and ‘the bones of the living’

Answer 7

Sharp contrast between life and death
Highlights the hawks constant pursuit of killing - violence

Question 8

Context

Answer 8

Written just after WWI - hawk made to sound like a violent dictator