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Thesis statement: Although many the 20th-century English modern poets announce their breaking with the 19th-century English Romanticism, there still remain Romantic traditions in some of the modern poets, such as Ted Hughes. In this essay, I discussed Romantic tradition in his ¡°Hawk Roosting¡± and compared it with Shelley¡¯s ¡°To a Sky-lark¡±, who is one of the 19th-century Romantic poets. I. Introduction of Ted Hughes II. Analysis of Ted Hughes¡¯s ¡°Hawk Roosting¡± A. The Poem as a Whole B. Discussing it in Three Aspects 1. Manners of the Hawk; 2. Relations between the Hawk and the Nature around it; 3. Change of the Nature since the Appearance of the Hawk. C. Evaluation of its Structure, rhythm, language, etc. D. Relationship between the Hawk and the Poet III. Analysis of Shelley¡¯s ¡°To a Sky-lark¡± A. Analysis of the Image of the Sky-lark B. Contrast between the Sky-lark and Human Suffering C. Relationship between the Sky-lark and the Poet IV. Comparison of the Two Poems A. Similarities of the two spirits praise in the two poems B. Similarities of the two birds¡¯ relationship between the two Poets Among the modern British poets, Ted Hughes (1930- ) is regarded as one of the best British poets and along with Philip Larkin as representative of the English poetry since the Second World War. The publishing of his of two volumes of poetry, Hawk in the Rain(1957) and Lupercal (1960) has established his reputation as a prominent poet of nature and animal in the 1960s. In 1956, he married Sylvia Plath, an American poet, and their living together proved a fruitful period of both of their poetry creation. Hughes is a poet writing in the romantic tradition. The introduction of Ted Hughes in Contemporary Literary Criticism noted that he is a poet of ¡°nature in the raw, of primitivism, pessimism, and natural destruction¡± (¡°HUGHES, Ted, 1930-¡±, 1974, p. 197). In his poetry, Hughes is preoccupied with the writing of nature, animal life and the elemental forces of non-human life. His themes express the powerful, often violent, energies of nature as well as the relationship between these energies and the divided nature of modern man. In his early volume of poetry, Hughes mainly writes about animals. By creating animals like hawks, jaguars, pikes and thrushes in the most vivid and dynamic way, he manages to express the intense energy and physical presence of the animal and natural world. ¡°Hawk Roosting¡± from Lupercal (1960) is a poem about the strength of the hawk. In this essay I want to discuss the romantic tradition in the writing of Hughes by comparing his ¡°Hawk Roosting¡± with the 19th-century romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley¡¯s poem ¡°To a Sky-lark¡±. Here is the full text of ¡°Hawk Roosting¡±: 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¡ª I kill where I please because it is all mine.
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