GCSE English Quiz - Poetry - Hawk Roosting (Questions)
Ted Hughes was a twentieth-century English poet. His work was highly-regarded: he received many awards and
much praise for his poetry during his lifetime, and was made Poet Laureate in 1984. Much of his earlier poetry
explores the natural world, focussing on its primal, non-romanticised essence. This poem, 'Hawk Roosting', is a
good example.
Read the poem slowly, then test your analytical skills with this quiz.
Hawk Roosting
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.
Ted Hughes
© Education Quizzes. Please visit www.educationquizzes.com to subscribe
1. Who is the 'I' of the first line? 2. What is the hawk doing at the beginning of the
[ ] The poet poem?
[ ] The hawk [ ] Looking for a kill
[ ] The reader [ ] Practising flying
[ ] A murderer [ ] Resting
[ ] Tearing off heads
3. Find examples of the language Hughes uses to 4. The mood, while violent, is also one of...
express the violent mood of the poem. [ ] fascination with nature
[ ] Falsifying, rehearse, inspection, [ ] disgust with the hawk
sophistry [ ] humour
[ ] Kills, lock, tearing, assert [ ] indifference
[ ] Inaction, revolve, bones, permitted
[ ] Buoyancy, rough, direct, right
5. Looking again at the words which express violence 6. 'Juxtaposition' is to place two things / ideas / words
and comparing these with the poem, you will see that side by side in order to invite comparison or
it is the images, more than individual words, which contrast. In which line(s) do we find juxtaposition?
fully convey the mood. Which one of the following [ ] Line 1
images does NOT contribute to the violence of the [ ] Lines 10-12
poem? [ ] Line 20
[ ] 'It took the whole of Creation / To [ ] Lines 23-24
produce my foot, my each feather'
[ ] 'Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly --'
[ ] 'The one path of my flight is direct /
Through the bones of the living'
[ ] 'Now I hold Creation in my foot'
7. What is the significance of these words: sophistry, 8. Considering the answer to question seven - this is an
manners, allotment, arguments, assert, right, example of which poetic or literary device?
permitted? [ ] Simile
[ ] They remind the reader of the hawk's [ ] Onomatopoeia
nature [ ] Personification
[ ] They are words which apply to people, [ ] Assonance
rather than hawks
[ ] They reinforce the mood of fascination
with nature
[ ] Hughes did not intend to use these
words - he couldn't think of better
choices
9. Why does the hawk say 'I am going to keep things 10. The hawk believes himself to be...
like this'? [ ] almighty, all powerful
[ ] The hawk is aware that things will [ ] thoughtful, sophisticated
change [ ] justified, ready to argue for his rights
[ ] The hawk knows, as the sun is going [ ] ashamed, wanting to change
down, that his death is near
[ ] The hawk will remain in the air forever
[ ] The way the world works suits the hawk
perfectly; the views of his prey do not
count
© Education Quizzes. Please visit www.educationquizzes.com to subscribe
GCSE English Quiz - Poetry - Hawk Roosting (Answers)
1. Who is the 'I' of the first line? 2. What is the hawk doing at the beginning of the
[ ] The poet poem?
[ x ] The hawk [ ] Looking for a kill
[ ] The reader [ ] Practising flying
[ ] A murderer [ x ] Resting
The voice of 'Hawk Roosting' is that of the hawk [ ] Tearing off heads
Always remember to think about the title and how it relates to
the rest of the poem. Here, 'roosting' is what we find the
hawk doing at the beginning of the poem; he is in a state of
repose
3. Find examples of the language Hughes uses to 4. The mood, while violent, is also one of...
express the violent mood of the poem. [ x ] fascination with nature
[ ] Falsifying, rehearse, inspection, [ ] disgust with the hawk
sophistry [ ] humour
[ x ] Kills, lock, tearing, assert [ ] indifference
[ ] Inaction, revolve, bones, permitted The hawk kills because that is its nature. From its 'hooked
[ ] Buoyancy, rough, direct, right head' to its 'hooked feet', the hawk is the deathly pinnacle of
creation
5. Looking again at the words which express violence 6. 'Juxtaposition' is to place two things / ideas / words
and comparing these with the poem, you will see that side by side in order to invite comparison or
it is the images, more than individual words, which contrast. In which line(s) do we find juxtaposition?
fully convey the mood. Which one of the following [ ] Line 1
images does NOT contribute to the violence of the [ x ] Lines 10-12
poem? [ ] Line 20
[ x ] 'It took the whole of Creation / To [ ] Lines 23-24
produce my foot, my each feather'
The hawk, who presents this juxtaposition, seems amused
[ ] 'Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly --'
by the thought that 'Creation' formed his foot and that he is
[ ] 'The one path of my flight is direct / now master of creation, holding it in his claw
Through the bones of the living'
[ ] 'Now I hold Creation in my foot'
7. What is the significance of these words: sophistry, 8. Considering the answer to question seven - this is an
manners, allotment, arguments, assert, right, example of which poetic or literary device?
permitted? [ ] Simile
[ ] They remind the reader of the hawk's [ ] Onomatopoeia
nature [ x ] Personification
[ x ] They are words which apply to people, [ ] Assonance
rather than hawks
Hughes is writing about more than a hawk in nature. The
[ ] They reinforce the mood of fascination hawk is personified, which will make the reader think about
with nature people who have the attitude the hawk has been given in the
[ ] Hughes did not intend to use these poem. Who do you think Hughes is referring to here? Killers?
words - he couldn't think of better Tyrants? The landed gentry throughout history?
choices
9. Why does the hawk say 'I am going to keep things 10. The hawk believes himself to be...
like this'? [ x ] almighty, all powerful
[ ] The hawk is aware that things will [ ] thoughtful, sophisticated
change [ ] justified, ready to argue for his rights
[ ] The hawk knows, as the sun is going [ ] ashamed, wanting to change
down, that his death is near
The hawk's self-image is all powerful, almighty; he views the
[ ] The hawk will remain in the air forever world, god-like, from on high
[ x ] The way the world works suits the hawk
perfectly; the views of his prey do not
count
The hawk believes he can stop change; he does not 'permit'
change
© Education Quizzes. Please visit www.educationquizzes.com to subscribe
