Hawk Roosting (Ted Hughes)
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.
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.
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
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 -
The allotment of death.
For the one path of my flight is direct
Through the bones of the living.
No arguments assert my right:
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.
Poppies in July (Sylvia Plath)
Little poppies, little hell flames,
Do you do no harm?
You flicker. I cannot touch you.
I put my hands among the flames. Nothing burns.
And it exhausts me to watch you
Flickering like that, wrinkly and clear red, like the skin of a mouth.
A mouth just bloodied.
Little bloody skirts!
There are fumes that I cannot touch.
Where are your opiates, your nauseous capsules?
If I could bleed, or sleep!
If my mouth could marry a hurt like that!
Or your liquors seep to me, in this glass capsule,
Dulling and stilling.
But colorless. Colorless.
COMPARISON BETWEEN “HAWK ROOSTING”( Ted Hughes) & “POPPIES IN JULY” ( Sylvia Plath)
I have choosen those poems because they have lots of resemblances but also many inequalities.Both authors treat similar themes based on natural elements: fauna and flora.
Hughes chooses as a main character the hawk, as a symbol of domination and power which is pointed out in his poem, by describing his supreme position above his surrounding. ( line 1 & 2) “I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes “.
The second stanza reflects calmness and peace, he feels the safety got by his force, and by the nature: (line 5& 6)” the convenience of the high trees, the air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray are of advantage to me”. This hawk seems to be a king, a nobel creature which sits on the top, watching the Creation.
The hawk, that is talking in first person, shows superiority and he talks about Creation as his own property, made for his own service and profit. ( line 10 & 11) “ It took the whole Creation to produce my foot”, and he also chooses everything taking into account his needs (line 12) “ now I hold Creation in my foot” and he can do or undo everything he wants even he has the possibility of killing because he has the power of doing this ( line 14) “ I kill where I please because it is all mine”.
In the two last stanzas, the hawk is still underlining his arrogance and his complete control over creation and none other can change that position because he is over any rule and he controls everything from his eye ( line 23) “my eye has permitted no change”.
Hughes has shown us a nature’s vision full of beauty, managed by the symbol of the hawk, which inspires us sobriety, respect, calmness but above all elegance. He describes a wonderful landscape, a great Creation built for the hawk for his own freedom.
On the other hand , we find the poem “Poppies in July,” by Sylvia Plath. She uses as a main natural element: poppies.
She strikes up a relationship with those poppies; she describes them even she asks them questions.
She talks to them, calling them little hell flames, so she associates their color red with hell, with fire, two gothic elements that evoke fear. The author gives them the capacity of fire (line 4) “ I put my hands among the flames”.Then she compares them with a mouth, a bloodied mouth which evokes an image full of cruelty and violence.Little by little she is transforming something so innocent and defenceless as a flower into something harmful, nauseous and evil; she is showing the real nature of the poppies: ( line 10) “ where are your opiates, your nauseous capsules?”.
The five last lines are the climax of this poem; the auhor exclaims her wish of dying or sleep, she is like a victim describing her deep sorrow ( line 11 & 12) “ if I could bleed, or sleep! If my mouth could marry a hurt like that!.Little by little the speaker calms her rage by reducing her violence.
This poem seems to be written by a mad person with a mental disorder because her ideas are confusing. Moreover, there are ups and downs in the poem’s tone.
This poem is completly oposed to the previous poem , the first one shows longing of living, freedom but above all arrogance; nevertheless the last poem has a pessimistic vision of life. In the second one, the author finishes treating nature as a cruel and harmful thing, while the first one reflects a beautiful Creation built for his benefits where there are no wishes, but facts.
PERSONAL RESPONSE
Both poems are written by two persons with different interior worlds. It is very difficult to think that they were married. Hughes expresses his safety on his own ( using a hawk as a symbol), he has no fears and no pain and he is very clear in his ideas, while Plath has a pessimistic vision, it is a woman crying inside her for help who is just making it easy (through the poem) for the reader to evoke images of what she really feels.
SOURCES
Poppies in July. The Poetry of Sylvia Plath.www.stanford.edu/class/engl187/docs/plathpoem.html. 9 May 2006.
Hawk roosting. Poet: Ted Hughes - All poems of Ted Hughes .. poetry.
www.poemhunter.com/ted-hughes/poet-6616/