- roostingverbChapter 1 →
Settling or resting in a high place, as a bird does when it perches to sleep overnight. The word suggests stillness and a commanding position above the ground.
- hookedadjectiveChapter 1 →
Curved sharply at the tip, like a hook. Here it describes the hawk's beak, shaped for tearing into prey.
- conveniencenounChapter 1 →
Something arranged purely for one's own advantage or ease. The hawk treats the whole natural world as a personal facility set up to serve it.
- buoyancynounChapter 1 →
The quality of being held up effortlessly, as if floating. The hawk uses it to describe how the air supports its body in flight without effort.
- foliagenounChapter 1 →
The mass of leaves on trees or other plants. The hawk rests among it at the top of the wood, using it as a high platform.
- sophistrynounChapter 1 →
Clever but dishonest reasoning used to make a wrong argument seem right. The hawk boasts it has no need of such tricks — its actions require no false justification.
- mannersnounChapter 1 →
Socially expected rules of polite behaviour. The hawk dismisses them as irrelevant to its killing, which it carries out without ceremony or apology.
- allotmentnounChapter 1 →
A share or portion officially assigned to someone. The hawk speaks of its flight-path as something assigned to it alone, as if the air itself has been parcelled out for its use.
- rehearseverbChapter 1 →
To go over or practise something repeatedly in the mind. Here the hawk means it does not need to think through or plan its kills in advance — they require no mental preparation.
- CreationnounChapter 1 →
The entire natural world and everything that exists, understood as having been made or shaped by some force. The hawk treats it as a system built specifically around itself.
- perfectadjectiveChapter 1 →
Complete and without any flaw or need for improvement. The hawk applies it to its own body and existence, seeing itself as the highest possible product of nature.
- revolveverbChapter 1 →
To move in a circle around a central point. The hawk imagines the world literally turning around itself, as if it were the fixed centre of everything.
- tearing off headsphraseChapter 1 →
Killing prey by ripping the head away with beak and talons. The hawk states this plainly, without emotion, as a routine and unremarkable act.
- willnounChapter 1 →
Absolute personal intention and the power to carry it out without interference. The hawk presents its choices as final commands that the world simply obeys.
- amendedverbChapter 1 →
Changed, corrected, or improved. The hawk declares that nothing about the world or its own position has been or will be altered in any way.
Hawk RoostingShort story by Ted Hughes