Hawk Roosting Tone

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“Hawk Roosting” and “Golden Retrievals” AP Poetry AnalysisIndividuals are affected by their worlds in infinitely different ways, but the way that one seeks either to allow the world to have control over them or to master that world can define their experiences. In the poems “Hawk Roosting” and “Golden Retrievals” by Ted Hughes and Mark Doty respectively, the perspectives of differing animals on their worlds are characterized through the uses of point of view, structure, and tone, leading to the development of a theme of the contrasting concepts of control and delight.Both poems employ a first-person point of view, though the styles of narration contrast significantly. In “Hawk Roosting,” Ted Hughes uses the first person point

of view of the hawk to demonstrate its view of the world in an egocentric way, as the hawk mind of the hawk thinks that the earth is “for my inspection” and that “I hold Creation in my foot.” The hawk speaks through Hughes in a way that demonstrates its perceived power and control of its world. Mark Doty, on the other hand, uses the point of view of a golden retriever, describing the actions and senses of the world around it, such as “sniff the wind, then I’m off again.” The speaker says that “my work” is to “unsnare time’s warp,” indicating that the dog interacts with its world in an easygoing way and is not bothered, but instead attempts to take delight within it.The syntax styles that the authors employ differ greatly and create contrasting ways of interpreting each poem. The sentences used by Ted Hughes to demonstrate the perspective of a hawk follow a notable trend, as they are organized into neat four-line stanzas and are generally to-the-point. Hughes uses the hawk as the narrator to put forth clean and controlled sentences, such as “My manners are tearing off heads - the allotment of death.” The control that the hawk is made to have in these lines directly mirrors the control that the animal seeks over its world and the power that it believes it has. In contrast, the perspective of the golden retriever that Mark Doty presents is far less organized and is presented in one cohesive blur. The asyndeton he uses in listing some of the dog’s interests -- “much,pond, ditch, residue” -- reflects the speed of the dog’s thoughts and the building hurry and passion with which it seems to think and feel.

The interjections and short phrases he uses, like “Fetch? “Catch?” or “oh joy” seem abrupt and distracted, much as the dog is distracted and taken away by the world around it. The control and power that the hawk feels and seeks over its world is in stark contrast with the dog’s fascinations and distracted thinking.The tones of the two poems, developed through diction and imagery, vary greatly from one another and contribute to further contrast among the perspectives of a hawk and a dog. The tone of “Hawk Roosting” can be described as concise. Clear and straightforward choices of diction like “I kill,” “assert my right,” and “eyes closed” are unmistakable and show the hawk’s clarity. The images that Hughes shows from the perspective of the hawk include those of nature, comparatively small from the bird’s high point of view: “rough bark,” “revolve it all slowly,” “the sun is behind me.” The clear and controlled diction and the images from nature that Hughes employs contribute to a concise tone from the hawk’s point of view, which shows the control that the animal has over its own actions and the way that it feels that same power over the larger world. The tone of the passage “Golden Retrievals” is dissimilarly very

excited and whimsical.
The rapid succession of words like “thrillingly” and “tumbling” and interjections like “woof!’ show the dog’s fixation upon rapid actions and interesting events and sensations and demonstrate its excitement. The excited tone that Doty employs for the golden retriever’s perspective shows the delight with which it approaches the world and its own whimsical nature.The poems “Hawk Roosting” and “Golden Retrievals” capture the differences between the perspectives of a golden retriever and a hawk and contrast the power and control that the hawk feels and exerts with the delight and excitement of the dog. The use of tone, structure, and point of view aid with their respective characterizations and highlight the divide between control and delight as ways to approach and deal with the world.