Theme and message

The main theme of the poem “Hawk Roosting” by Ted Hughes is power. As we have seen before, the poem and the word “power” can have different meanings according to the way in which we choose to interpret them.

On the one hand, we can interpret the poem as an ode to a spectacular animal, the hawk. It is, indeed, powerful, an almighty creation of God. Its brutal and violent ways of acting are given by nature, not emerged from vengeance or the assumption of the hawk that it is unbeatable by other creatures:

“There is no sophistry in my body:
My manners are tearing off heads –” (p. 152, ll. 3-4)

On the other hand, we can interpret the poem as an account of the destructive nature of mankind. The word “feet” used in the third stanza hints at human nature. In this case, the word “power” has a different meaning. It ...