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 from Lupercal • Faber and Faber – 1960)

1. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

 

1.1 Explain the meaning of the title.

1.2 Who does “I” refer to in line 1?

1.3 Say the content of the first stanza in your own words.

1.4 What does the hawk take advantage of?

1.5 Explain the meaning of lines 10-14.

1.6 What does the hawk mean when it says “There is no sophistry in my body” (line 15)?

1.7 Explain lines 20-24.

1.8 What do you think the two concluding lines mean?

1.9 Find out words, statements and images which stress the powerful position of the bird

and depict its cruel and violent nature. Refer to the text.

 

2. SUMMARIZE the content of the poem

 

3. COMPOSITION

 

 Read the following: “…it is not his special concern for animals that seems to

have drawn Hughes to write about them so frequently in his poetry. It is rather that he sees in

them the most clear manifestation of a life-force that is distinctly non-human or, rather, is nonrational

in its source of power. Hughes observes in modern man a reluctance to acknowledge the

deepest, instinctual sources of energy in his own being, an energy that is related to the 'elemental

power circuit' of the universe and to which animals are closer than man. […] a sense of sterility

and nihilism in modern man's response to life, a response which he connects with the dominance

of man's rational, objective intellect at the expense of the life of the emotions and imagination,

[…] man has allowed too large a gap to develop between his consciousness and his instinctual

reaction to his condition. He has cultivated his rational, cognitive powers too exclusively,

neglecting his inner world of feelings, imagination and instinct, and has therefore divided his

own nature, cutting himself off from the natural energies of the universe.”

(from: P.R. King, Nine Contemporary Poets, Methuen, 1979)

Do you agree with this point of view and with what is said about modern man?

Support your arguments using also your experience and your knowledge of other relevant

literary works.

 

Alternatively

 

It is said that this bird of prey may symbolize a dictator.

What evidence can you find in the poem to support this theory?

Compare this poem with the following “Epitaph on a Tyrant”

(Auden may have been inspired by the rise to power of Hitler in 1933):

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,

And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;

He knew human folly like the back of his hand,

And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;

5 When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,

And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

(from” Another Time: Poems by W.H. Auden”, Faber & Faber, 1966)

 

Alternatively

 

Language-using animals have always been widely used in literature as spokesmen of human-human

relations, metaphors or images of feelings, behaviours, beliefs and qualities humans fear or would like

to possess.

How do these animals help readers work through human conflicts and larger social, political, cultural

preoccupations and power structures?

Support your arguments with examples from other literary works.

____________________________

Durata massima della prova: 6 ore.

E’ consentito soltanto l’uso dei dizionari monolingue e bilingue.

Non è consentito lasciare l’Istituto prima che siano trascorse 3 ore dalla dettatura del tema.

PRIMA PROVA

E la mia scelta è ricaduta su....

TIPOLOGIA D - TEMA DI ORDINE GENERALE

Comunicare le emozioni: un tempo per farlo si scriveva una lettera, oggi un sms o una e-mail. Così idee e sentimenti viaggiano attraverso abbreviazioni e acronimi, in maniera veloce e funzionale. Non è possibile definire questo cambiamento in termini qualitativi, si può però prendere atto della differenza delle modalità di impatto che questa nuova forma di comunicazione ha sulle relazioni tra gli uomini: quanto quella di ieri era una comunicazione anche fisica, fatta di scrittura, odori, impronte e attesa, tanto quella di oggi è incorporea, impersonale e immediata. Discuti la questione proposta, illustrandone, sulla base delle tue conoscenze ed esperienze personali, gli aspetti che ritieni più significativi.

____________________________

Durata massima della prova: 6 ore.

È consentito soltanto l’uso del dizionario italiano.

Non è consentito lasciare l’Istituto prima che siano trascorse 3 ore dalla dettatura del tema.

E' difficile scrivere quando il fumo delle sigarette e i pensieri ti annebbiano la mente...

Sono stanca di chiedere scusa per qualcosa di cui non sono colpevole...

Stanca di risolvere i problemi degli altri...

Tremendamente stanca di non pensare a me...

E allo stesso modo sono stanca di questo tempo di merda...

Verrà la stagione della vendemmia e poi di nuovo salteranno fuori le fragole...

La pioggia incessante discende a valle...

Tremiti di suoni scalfiscono i ricordi...

Immagini vane ma indelebili scorrono come musica davanti agli occhi...

Sussurri incantevoli suggeriscono qualcosa di indecifrabile...

Ma prima o poi tutto ciò diverrà chiaro e distinto...

Come ogni cosa...

E così...perderà quella magia che racchiudeva nascosta nel suo più intimo rifugio...

Mentre scrivi...a livello d'occhi...potresti trovarti davanti Sgarbi...

...che ti chiede... ''vorresti di più dal tuo corso di laurea? Scegli Incampus...''

E se hai altri pensieri per la testa... l'unica cosa che ti verrà mente sarà...

''a Sgarbi...ma vaffanculo va...''

Beh... sorridiamo alla vita...sorridiamo a Sgarbi...

E' meglio smettere di scrivere...quando non si ha più nulla da sblaterare...

E soprattutto...

quando non sai di che cazzo hai sblaterato fino ad ora...

 

 

Tratto da ''Pensieri Di Una Mente Perversa''

 

Edito da Me