Hawk Roosting: Master And Slave Dialectic

Ted Hughes’ poem "Hawk Roosting” Acknowledging the “Master and Slave Dialectic”

Mr. Fateh Khan Lecturer Department of English language and literature, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan.

Abstract:
In “Hawk roosting”, Ted Hughes adopts the portrait of a hawk and shows us the world from his prospective. Literally, the poem revolves around the mind and behavior of this arrogant hawk. The hawk is at the top of power in the wood. He seems omnipotent and shows arrogance. The hawk represents the Nazi Germany and has the same traits as a
Although this hawk is supposed to be an impersonal killing machine, it has too much self-consciousness for us to consider it to be motivated by instinct alone. This line describes the hawk’s imagining and eating his prey even while he is asleep. A picture of ruthlessness is being built up. In its tone, this stanza displays a sense of self-importance that matches the hawk 's physical position above the world. The words "convenience," "buoyancy," "advantage," and "inspection" are all examples of elevated and sophisticated diction. The trees are indeed convenient as they are high, enabling him to reach new heights. The air’s buoyancy enables him to float in the air; the sun’s rays lend him rays of hope. These are all metaphors for circumstances that allow the hawk to stay in the position that he is. He is being up; it appears to him as if the earth is laid down for his inspection. Ted Hughes affirms here how power is only a matter of perspective. The hawk’s narcissistic tendencies are strongly resonated in the following
He has eclipsed the sun. To put it further, the sun lives in his shadow. Nothing is constant as time passes. The composition of the entire universe is susceptible to change within fractions of seconds. However, the hawk states that nothing has changed here as his eye has not permitted it to do so. The word ‘eye’ denotes both ‘vision’ and ‘insight’. The last line functions as an open challenge to the universal fact that change is inevitable: “I am going to keep things like this.” According to the interpretation of Rukhaya MK, the line: “ I am going to keep things like this” may read that nature is going to maintain its original diversity and composition in opposition to man- included natural calamities like deforestation, global warming and pollution etc. (Rukhaya MK,