Transcript Document

“Hawk Roosting” by Ted
Hughes
Lin Yupeng
• I. Introduction to Ted Hughes
• II. Introduction to the Poem “Hawk
Roosting”
• III. Reading of the Poem
IV. Analysis of the Poem “Hawk Roosting”
I. Introduction to Ted Hughes(1)
• Ted Hughes(1930-1998) :one of the
important English poets in the 20th century
• dominant poet in 1960s
• Innovator who had his own poetic voice
and poetic technique of animal symbolism
• deeply involved in the observation of the
world of creatures
I. Introduction to Ted Hughes(2)
• Hughes’s poetry : strong feelings and
urgent ,brilliant images
• His studies of nature and anthropology gave him
a view of man as being both opposed by the
primitive forces of nature and also as containing
those same forces withn himself.
• He was concerned with strong and sometimes
violent forces of nature, but he wrote with great
powers of imagination as if from inside the birds
and animals.
Introduction to Ted Hughes(3)
• His poetry : unsentimental, written in rough,
harsh, sometimes disjointed lines, emphasizing
the cunning and savagery of animal life.
• When writing about people he also stressed the
instinctive, animal side of human nature rather
than the intellectual .However, his insight and
the structure of his poems show his keen
intellect.
Introduction to Hughes(4)
• an important infuence on a group of younger
poets in the 1960s , known as “The Tribe of Ted”.
• In 1985 appointed Poet Laureate.
•
• Hughes married Sylvia Plath(1932-1963),a
famous Amerian poet, in 1956 and they had two
children. Later they separated, which, people
suggested ,may have contributed to the suicide
of Plath in 1963.
II. Introduction to the Poem “Hawk
Roosting”(1)
• This is a famous poem of the poet’s and a
very special one in that the image of the
bird was quite new and striking in the
history of English poetry.Different people
may have different interpretations of the
hawk in the poem. There have been quite
controversial views as to the meanings of
the poem and the image of the hawk.
Introduction to the Poem(2)
• The whole poem is a monologue of ,or
psychology about, the hawk. The bird,
perched on the top of the trees, inspects
the land below him and has some arrogant
ideas of himself, thinking that he holds
Creation in his feet and all is there for him
to kill and eat, and that he does not need
arguments to assert his right and he is
going to keep things like this for ever.
III. Reading of the Poem
• 1.Some questions:
• 1) What is the bird’s personality?
• 2) Is this a matter-of-fact description of the
hawk and his psychology or does it have
symbolic or allegorical meanings?
• 3) What are characteristics of Hughes’
poetry?
2. Understanding of some of the
words(1)
• inaction, without any action, in a static
state
• falsifying,make false so as to deceive;
represent falsely
• hooked,bent like a hook
• rehearse, practise speech, performance
etc. before giving it in public
• buoyancy,power to float in a fluid
2. Understanding of some of the
words(2)
• Creation, the original bringing into existence of
the universe by God; the world, the universe;
things created
• sophistry, false argument; clever, seemingly
sensible, but false reasoning
• manners,way of living, way of behaving
concerning other people
• allotment,assigning or giving out portions
• No arguments assert my right, assert, state or
declare strongly positively
IV. Analysis of the Poem “Hawk
Roosting”
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1. Image/Character of the hawk
2. Symbolism of the hawk
3. Sound image of the hawk
4. Title and the character of the hawk
5.Rough poetry of Hughes
6.Irony in the hawk
7. Change of the image of the hawk in literary
tradition (Compare this poem with other two
poems about the hawk or the eagle,predatory
birds)
1.Image/Character of the hawk
• proud, vain , dominant, arrogant, selfcentred, egotistic, megalomaniac
• powerful , violent, cruel, brutal, coldblooded, blood-thirsty
• The hawk lives according to the rules of its
own morality; hawk is sufficient unto itself
and at one with its environment
2. Symbolism/Implication of the
hawk
• Symbol of humanity,like a dictator or Hitler;
• Symbol of violent force of nature (or nature itself)
• Nature now is no longer the nature in
Wordsworth’ poetry ( organic , whole , in
harmony with man)
• Nature now is disjointed and violent because
man has done violence to nature and modern
society and industry have destroyed the
harmony between man and nature( antiRomantic view).
• Hughes : it is not violence, it is force.
3. Sound image of the hawk (1)
• The title gives the hint for the
leading/dominant sounds of the hawk: the
dominant consonant is [h] in the word
Hawk and the dominant vowel sound is [u]
or the similar one [u:] in the word
Roosting.
Sound image of the hawk (2)
• Throughout the poem there are altogether
eight words which have [h]sound: hooked,
head, hooked, rehearse, high, hold, heads,
and Hawk in the title.(Besides there are
another three in the last stanza: behind,
has, has).
3. Sound image of the hawk (3)
• There are also eight words which contain
the dominant vowel sound [u] or the
similar one [u:]: woods,hooked hooked,
took, foot, foot, Through and also Roosting
in the title.
Sound image of the hawk (4)
• Because the title contains these two
sounds and because the words which
contain these sounds are key words about
the bird’s characteristics and its action,
therefore these two sounds can be
regarded as sound image of the hawk.
Sound image of the hawk (5)
• [h]is associated with the word hard, thus
the sound[h] suggests hardness of the
rock and firmness of the bird’s posture and
hard-heartedness.
• According to Georffrey Leech certain
consonants can be regarded as hard ones
and some can be regarded as soft ones.
4. The title and the character of the
hawk
• Hawk Roosting(not Roosting Hawk, the
former emphasizes action whereas the
latter emphasized the Hawk itself)
• which suggests action in
inaction,movement in stability,motion in
motionlessness, that even if the hawk
seems to be doing nothing , even if in its
sleep, it is indulged in killing and in
violence
5. Rough poetry of Hughes
• 1) irregular lines:long and short
• 2)ca’cophony: words combining consonant
sounds that dont permit an easy flow of
pronunciation, but rather produce
sharpness or harshness
• 3) pauses within the lines
6. Irony in the poem
• dramatic irony or situational irony
• The hawk thinks that he has power to
keep the world like this forever, but we
know that it is not true.
7.Image of the hawk viewed in
literary tradition
• 1) Compare this poem with other two
poems about hawks or eagles ,predatory
birds.
The Eagle
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
• He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
• The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
The eagle in this poem
• symbol of outstanding personality of
humanity: uniqueness, superiority,
• courage, strength, heroism, nobility
From “Hurt Hawk”
by Robinson Jeffers(1887-1962)
• The broken pillar of the wing jags from the clotted
shoulder,
• The wing trails like a banner in defeat,
• No more to use the sky forever but live with famine
• And pain a few days: cat nor coyote
• Will shorten the week of waiting for death, there is
game without talons.
• He stands under the oak-bush and waits
• The lame feet of salvation; at night he remembers
freedom
• And flies in a dream, the dawns ruin it.
The hawk in this poem by Jeffers
• a kind of fallen hero, lover of
freedom, symbol of courage, like
a martyr in suffering
Three poems compared
• 1.The Eagle
• symbol of outstanding personality , superiority,
courage, strength, heroism, nobility
• 2.Hurt Hawks
• fallen hero, lover of freedom, symbol of courage,
a martyr
• 3.Hawk Roosting
• Violence, Hiltler, megalomaniac, blood-thirsty
2) Change of the hawk image(1)
• the change/development of the hawk
image in literary history suggests the
change from the Romantic view of nature
to the modern view of nature(eagle,
symbol of nature, is personified as
containing some good qualities) , from
traditional values to the modern views.
2) Change of the hawk image(2)
• This also shows that we get the meaning
not just from one poem, but from the
context of whole literary tradition. The
meaning of one poem can be enriched by
other poems or other works of literature.
This has something to do with tradition
and intertexuality:
3) Literary tradition
•
No poet, no artist of any art, has his
complete meaning alone. His significance,
his appreciation is the appreciation of his
relation to the dead poets and artists. You
cannot value him alone; you must set him,
for contrast and comparison, among the
dead. I mean this as a principle of
æsthetic, not merely historical, criticism .
•
T.S.Eliot
4) Intertexuality
• intertexuality: a term coined by Julia
Kristeva to designate the various
relationships that a given text may have
with other texts.These intertextual
relationships include anagram, allusion,
adaptation, translation, parody, pastiche,
imitation and other kinds of transformation.
4) Intertextuality
• The idea of intertextuality emphasizes the
relationship between one text and another,
the tie of all texts, and the importance of
the texts themselves rather than the
external world.