Analysis The Hawk in The Rain by Ted Hughes

From My Word in Your Ear's website, here are the analysis of The Hawk in The Rain's poem by Ted Hughes. A line by line analysis:

I drown in the drumming ploughland, I drag up

It is fair to assume that Ted Hughes is wandering about somewhere in Yorkshire on a gloomy day whilst it rains. The rain can be classified as heavy and continuous, similar to a thumping sound. We imagine the rain pouring on the earth's surface, however, we have not heard how it feels when it rains while wearing Hughes's clothes. Resumes the poem with a pause which allows us to reflect on the rain and the place.

Heel after heel from the swallowing of the earth's mouth,

We have a representation of a person however, whose movement is time consuming. The earth appears to be engulfing some objects but, these could only be water.

From clay that clutches my each step to the ankle
With the habit of the dogged grave, but the hawk

It can be said that the earth is drawing Hugh Ted's body towards it. The surface of the earth is rather gooey and overwhelming. Death is a thought that has crossed Ted's mind and which he knows in the end the oill will engulf him. People are often consumed by the ground. But what of the hawk... this takes the poem on to the next stanza.

Effortlessly at height hangs his still eye.
His wings hold all creation in a weightless quiet,

There is a hawk that is on a different level and has a vantage point better than all the others. And that is different from Ted who has his focus fixed on the ground. Even in bad conditions, the hawk is able to soar through the skies. His vision is unaffected by the harsh weather of wind and rain.

Steady as a hallucination in the streaming air.
While banging wind kills these stubborn hedges,

What was Ted seeing in the sky? Maybe in a way he envied the hawk. The wind is strong under. There is frustration where Ted asks whether this is all real and whether a hawk can do it.

Thumbs my eyes, throws my breath, tackles my heart,
And rain hacks my head to the bone, the hawk hangs

Ted pays attention to events taking place in his surroundings. My nights are sharpened by a cold wind and rain that's like a killer. Thereafter, with tenderness, he again stares at the hawk. So much time is required after the word "hangs" to go to the next indication.

The diamond point of will that polestars
The sea drowner's endurance: and I,

The hawk can endure the weather as it has more power than the ordinary birds. It is like diamond that has the ability of cutting. The word "polestars" reminds us of some sky and level. The weather was not favorable. It should be mad for anyone who is at the sea. Again, the poem ends with a break as if rain has been severing it.

Bloodily grabbed dazed last-moment-counting
Morsel in the earth's mouth, strain towards the master-
Fulcrum of violence where the hawk hangs still,
That maybe in his own time meets the weather

This poem basically has cuts into two halves of the hawk and Ted. Like the hawk tearing something on the ground, Ted may also be devoured in the same sense. Some vital words are provided to justify; "fulcrum" provides a definite description of all support points. The poem leaves us hanging with a beauty that continues the life of the hawk and ends with a pause.

Coming from the wrong way, suffers the air, hurled upside down,
Fall from his eye, the ponderous shires crash on him,
The horizon traps him; the round angelic eye
Smashed, mix his heart's blood with the mire of the land.

All will die, even the hawk. The earth will outlive it in the end. The earth is resilient and will always triumph. Unlike in the beginning, the scenario is reversed in the end. The eyes of this hawk are beautiful; an angel. Even the most faultless of creatures will pass away. It's a sad thought of nature from a nature lover.