In “Hawk Roosting,” “Crow’s Fall,” and “The Minotaur,” Ted Hughes suggests that an individual’s irrationality fosters violent nature: a defining human tendency. Through recurring animalistic images, Ted Hughes explores the dangers of irrationality, albeit in the form of rash action, overconfidence, or poor customs. The comparisons of the animals in Hughes’ poems to varying aspects of humanity demonstrate his pessimistic views towards the problem of human consciousness.
In “Hawk Roosting,” Hughes details the story of a predatory hawk that falls into the practice of acting impetuously. The title of the poem introduces the hawk, which captures the arrogance of those who hold absolute power and their false reasoning behind their wrongdoing, which only incites further infractions, such as murder. The uniform stanza length throughout the poem reflects the hawk’s tight control of his surroundings, while the pair of stanzas serve as a development in his presentation: the first and second display his physical superiority, the third and fourth his view of himself within nature, and the fifth and sixth his explanation and justification of his actions. Throughout the poem, the repetition of negatives, such as “no falsifying” (2), “no sophistry” (15), and “No arguments” (20) mirrors the negative acts of such a condescending individual’s behavior.
The active verb used to describe the hawk in the title, roosting, indicates the animal’s self-assertion. The first word of the poem, ‘I,’ indicates the supreme ego of the hawk, who rules the “wood[s]” (1): his domain. By closing his eyes, the hawk perceives that only he exists and in saying “no falsifying dream” (2) the hawk convinces himself that his truth reigns supreme, another sign of conceit. Th...
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...ip with his wife. The Minotaur symbolizes the wife, the “skein that unravelled [sic]” (18) symbolizes her problematic psyche that inhibits her from dealing with her psychological issues – her inability to connect with her mother and her father’s premature death – and leads to the destruction of her marriage, and the “tunnels” (20) symbolize her own mind, where she unsuccessfully seeks shelter from her destructive external actions. The ominous diction, “echoing” (19) and “labyrinth” (20) suggest Hughes’ views on the cyclical and compounding nature of abuse. Hughes concludes the final stanza with the foreboding image, “And your own corpse in it” (24), to postulate the when language becomes inadequate, such as in the case of the narrator’s wife, an individual will resort to violence, and when there is nothing left to destroy, the individual will destroy him or herself.
In the narrative poem “Cautionary Tale of Girls and Birds of Prey” the author, Sandy Longhorn, tells the story of a young girl who is afraid of a hawk, and her inconsiderate father who doesn’t take her concerns seriously. The story shows how her father is determined to get rid of her fear of the hawk, because he thinks it is both foolish and childish. The daughter very well knows the capability of the hawk, however her father doesn’t acknowledge it until it is too late. In the poem, Longhorn uses alliteration and rhyme to help explore the theme of how being inconsiderate towards others can in the end hurt you as much as it hurts them. The poem takes place on a little farm where the girl and her father live with all of their livestock.
...veryone else. He wakes up every day ready to crow his symbol to bring on that day. In the poem he is ready to protect all the female chickens, from another cock that could be in there house. He is ready to battle to the death for what he thinks is his. In this poem he uses ridicule, when he is talking about the old man in a terminal ward, and he also uses connotations. Some example of connotations are when he uses words like; enraged, sullenly, savagery, unappeased and terminal.
In “Eagle Plain”, by Robert Francis, the poem dramatizes the conflict between the nation’s “non-ideal” character traits and the “ideal.” Francis’ poem is also structured to have one main theme per two stanzas for a total of three: self-esteem, pride, and honor. The speaker then uses the “eagle” to symbolize the ideal American trait and uses personification and metaphors to help bring the eagle’s character traits to life, the poem also has an alternate allegorical meaning.
Paul Laurence Dunbar depicts this idea in his well-known poem “Sympathy” (one of my favorite poems!), describing a caged bird that longs for freedom. Dunbar establishes his knowledge of the bird’s feelings, his desire for freedom (his motive of rebellion). Dunbar draws empathy from the audience as he describes the bird’s integrity in the descriptive lines: “I know why the caged bird beats his wing Till its blood is red on the cruel bars.” The caged bird goes to a dangerous extent to be heard, as he bleeds on his prison bars, for he is willing to do anything for his freedom— this shows his integrity and confidence in his values. Dunbar finishes off the poem with powerful lines: “But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, But a plea that upward heaven he flings— I know why the caged bird sings!” The caged bird is depicted as battered, bruised, and beaten from his violent rebellion— praying as his last chance of freedom. The bird’s belief in its virtuous rebellion justifies the revolt, as we see the bird’s constant persistency, even as the mutiny is demoted to prayer.
The tile of the poem “Bird” is simple and leads the reader smoothly into the body of the poem, which is contained in a single stanza of twenty lines. Laux immediately begins to describe a red-breasted bird trying to break into her home. She writes, “She tests a low branch, violet blossoms/swaying beside her” and it is interesting to note that Laux refers to the bird as being female (Laux 212). This is the first clue that the bird is a symbol for someone, or a group of people (women). The use of a bird in poetry often signifies freedom, and Laux’s use of the female bird implies female freedom and independence. She follows with an interesting image of the bird’s “beak and breast/held back, claws raking at the pan” and this conjures a mental picture of a bird who is flying not head first into a window, but almost holding herself back even as she flies forward (Laux 212). This makes the bird seem stubborn, and follows with the theme of the independent female.
Martin, Scott. Annotations to The Crow by James O’Barr . Last updated 9 July 1998. Accessed 23 April 2003. <http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Balcony/2570/crownote.htm>.
Kelly, Joseph. The Seagull Reader Poems Second Edition. New York: W.W Norton and Company, 2001.
As a way to end his last stanza, the speaker creates an image that surpasses his experiences. When the flock rises, the speaker identifies it as a lady’s gray silk scarf, which the woman has at first chosen, then rejected. As the woman carelessly tosses the scarf toward the chair the casual billow fades from view, like the birds. The last image connects nature with a last object in the poet's
In his poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, John Updike uses a flock of birds to show that man can be uplifted by observing nature. Updike’s conclusion is lead up to with the beauty of autumn and what a binding spell it has on the two men playing golf. In Updike’s conclusion and throughout the poem, he uses metaphors, similes, and diction to show how nature mesmerizes humans.
In the poem titled Unknown the character tells a story about a hawk he shot then tried to befriend. The whole poem is a metaphor for what I think is a story about a friend the Unknown had hurt, then tried to help and gain back the trust of. The Unknown talks about how he wounded the bird, then placed him in a cage, then tried to feed him, but the bird just stayed mad at him. When people hurt someone it’s hard to gain back their trust, especially by trying to force them to do so. By “caging’ the bird the Unknown is just trying to force his friend to trust with him again. Near the end of the poem lines fourteen through fifteen say “Daily I search the realms for Hades For the soul of the hawk, That I may offer him friendship”, I take this as the Unknown saying that his friend had a soul from Hell by not finding the compassion to forgive him, especially after the Unknown had helped his friend. The poem never indicates that the Unknown and the “hawk” got along together, but I imagine they did
Just like in the beginning exert of “A Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson, the author introduces suspense and invites readers in by first setting the scene of an ideal and perfect world where,”…all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings.” The scene the author is painting shows nature and humans coexisting together and this type of interaction brings an image of beauty and peace to mind. She also mentions that the country was especially famous for its abundant and various types of birds and makes several references to them throughout the story. Different types of birds carry a different symbolism each for example, the dove is a symbol for peace and friendship but a crow can signify that something terribly wrong is near.
bird as the metaphor of the poem to get the message of the poem across
The first stanza of the poem uses words with negative connotations. For example, Frost says, “The way a crow” (1). Crows aren’t viewed as particularly nice birds. They usually symbolize emptiness, forlorning, and fear. They symbolize the same thing here. When I’m having a bad day, I usually feel empty and alone. I think the speaker feels the same way. “Shook down on me” (2). In this line, the crow is obviously shaking snow down upon the speaker. This implies that the bird is above the speaker, and shows that the speaker feels lowly, as if a bird deserves more respect than himself.
... Nature, including human beings, is `red in tooth and claw'; we are all `killers' in one way or another. Also, the fear which inhabits both human and snake (allowing us, generally, to avoid each other), and which acts as the catalyst for this poem, also precipitates retaliation. Instinct, it seems, won't be gainsaid by morality; as in war, our confrontation with Nature has its origins in some irrational `logic' of the soul. The intangibility of fear, as expressed in the imagery of the poem, is seen by the poet to spring from the same source as the snake, namely the earth - or, rather, what the earth symbolizes, our primitive past embedded in our subconsciouness. By revealing the kinship of feelings that permeates all Nature, Judith Wright universalises the experience of this poem.
“A Bird came down the Walk,” was written in c. 1862 by Emily Dickinson, who was born in 1830 and died in 1886. This easy to understand and timeless poem provides readers with an understanding of the author’s appreciation for nature. Although the poem continues to be read over one hundred years after it was written, there is little sense of the time period within which it was composed. The title and first line, “A Bird came down the Walk,” describes a common familiar observation, but even more so, it demonstrates how its author’s creative ability and artistic use of words are able to transform this everyday event into a picture that results in an awareness of how the beauty in nature can be found in simple observations. In a step like narrative, the poet illustrates the direct relationship between nature and humans. The verse consists of five stanzas that can be broken up into two sections. In the first section, the bird is eating a worm, takes notice of a human in close proximity and essentially becomes frightened. These three stanzas can easily be swapped around because they, for all intents and purposes, describe three events that are able to occur in any order. Dickinson uses these first three stanzas to establish the tone; the tone is established from the poet’s literal description and her interpretive expression of the bird’s actions. The second section describes the narrator feeding the bird some crumbs, the bird’s response and its departure, which Dickinson uses to elaborately illustrate the bird’s immediate escape. The last two stanzas demonstrate the effect of human interaction on nature and more specifically, this little bird, so these stanzas must remain in the specific order they are presented. Whereas most ...