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,