'Hawk Roosting And Mark Doty's Golden Retrievals'

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Animals can be used in literature to convey many things, including human views and experiences in the world. Ted Hughes’ poem “Hawk Roosting” and Mark Doty’s poem “Golden Retrievals” assist in showing these concepts. The first poem listed is clearly about a hawk, while the latter describes a dog. These two animals have very different characteristics and differing views of the world, which are exhibited by the several literary techniques used by the poets. Firstly, Ted Hughes characterizes the hawk in “Hawk Roosting” through using imagery, metaphor, and symbolism. The main instance of imagery occurs in the second stanza of the poem. “The convenience of the high trees! / The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray...” (Hughes 5-6). This shows the reader that the hawk enjoys being

There is also one main metaphor within this poem. In the third stanza, the narrator states: “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” (Hughes 9-12). To the reader, the hawk saying that it “holds Creation in his foot” sounds a lot like it has plenty of power over life, as if it were a god. The hawk sees itself as a supreme being with much control over everything else around it. In this poem, it can be interpreted by the audience that the hawk itself is a symbol of someone with absolutely too much power over a group of people. In the fourth stanza, the narrator says “I kill where I please because it is all mine. / There is no sophistry in my body: / My manners are tearing off heads -” (Hughes 14-16). The poem ends with the hawk saying “My eye has permitted no change. I am going to keep things like this” (Hughes 27-28). This shows that the hawk does not plan on ever changing its ways. In the next poem, “Golden Retrievals,” the dog is characterized through Mark Doty’s use of rhyme, onomatopoeia, and tone. Rhythm is present in only the first half of the poem in an