Starter quiz
- What do we mean by perspective?
- a point of view ✓
- a tone of voice
- a feeling created
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- What do we associate with the word predator?
- strong ✓
- slow
- powerful ✓
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- If something is controversial that means it's ...
- likely to cause disagreement or upset. ✓
- likely to be widely supported.
- likely to be easily ignored.
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- What is a dictator?
- someone who rules with kindness and compassion
- someone elected to rule against their will
- someone who rules with force and oppression ✓
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- The word 'instinctual' means ...
- a fixed pattern of behaviour programmed into us. ✓
- an unpredictable pattern of behaviour programmed into us.
- a new pattern of behaviour programmed into us.
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- A ______ is a system of ranking people or things based on how much power they have.
- 'hierarchy' ✓
Exit quiz
- Who is the speaker in 'Hawk Roosting'?
- the poet
- the hawk ✓
- the prey
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- What is the tone of the speaker in 'Hawk Roosting'?
- arrogant ✓
- confident
- aggressive
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- Starting with the first, put the order of events from 'Hawk Roosting' in to chronological order.
- 1⇔We learn the hawk can "rehearse" his kills in his sleep.
- 2⇔We learn that nature gives the hawk an advantage.
- 3⇔The speaker tells us the hawk was created by God.
- 4⇔The hawk is presented as doing what he "please[s]"
- 5⇔The hawk feels almost god-like.
- 6⇔The world for the hawk is going to remain the same.
- Which word from 'Hawk Roosting' shows the hawk is a perfect predator?
- "hooked" ✓
- "sophistry"
- "advantage"
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- Hughes' 'Hawk Roosting' explores the instincts and violence of ...
- 'nature' ✓
- When the poem 'Hawk Roosting' was originally published in 1960, many people through the hawk may be a metaphor for ...
- nature
- facist dictators ✓
- industrialisation
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Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- The poem is written from the perspective of a drowsy hawk, who muses on his life as a predator.
- The hawk’s voice is characterised as egotistical and conceited; he revels in the power that nature has allowed him.
- The poem explores the instinctive savagery and violence of nature; the hawk is therefore amoral.
- The poem was published in 1960, and many people thought that the hawk may be a metaphor for fascist dictators.
- Hughes stated that he wanted to explore the power and complexity of nature through this poem.
Common misconception
Students think that Hughes wrote this poem about fascist dictators like Hitler.
Hughes stated that this was not his intention. Though the poem can be interpreted in this way, this was not what Hughes set out to convey - he wanted to convey the power of nature.
Keywords
Conceited - extremely arrogant and self-absorbed
Egotistical - self-centred and self-absorbed
To revel - to take immense pleasure and satisfaction in something
Hierarchy - a system of ranking people or things based on how much power they have
Instinct - a pattern or style of behaviour that we are born with - it is programmed into us
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