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‘Now I hold Creation in my foot’—explain the centrality of this assertion in the poem. What makes the hawk’s assertion of its invincibility so categorical?

Hughes’ “Hawk Roosting” portrays the self-authoritative proclamation of the hawk who is in a crisis of existentialism and tries to usurp the interrogating position of God. The savagery and arrogance of the hawk are exposed in its dogmatic assertion of its ferocity and superiority. The hawk is symbolic of Fascist ideology that forcefully tries to adopt the centrality of power all within itself. It even denies the invincibility of God’s power and tries to establish itself as the sole container of power and control. The hawk sits on a top most bark of a tree and tries to see the world from its perspective. The miniature view of the world that he gets from that position makes it assert itself as the supreme holder of power and force. It denies the very natural power of the sun and believes that the sun follows it all throughout. The insolent narcissistic attitude of the hawk is evident when it proclaims itself as the singular manipulator and controller of worldly forces and exclaims, “Now I hold creation in my foot.” It believes that that the world actually rotates under its influence only. It also negates the possibility of the existence of anything that is beyond the permissible parameter of its sight.


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