Why is the poem entitled ‘Hawk Roosting’?

Ted Hughes’ “Hawk Roosting” narrates the internal power struggle of a hawk perceived through the technique of dramatic monologue. The hawk is shown to be sitting at the top most point of the woods and it is looking down below from where it is roosting. The situation of the hawk is similar to the condition of human beings who do not tend to illuminate on ideas or boundaries beyond the prescribed boundaries imposed by the society. The hawk suggests itself as the central container of power and authority. Narrated from the perspective of the hawk, Ted Hughes tries to capture his own vision of the world and the worldly impositions and counter impositions and tries to portray them through the violent imagery of the hawk, which is a bird of prey. In many of Hughes’ poems, he employs animals to serve as his substituted voice against the worldly phenomena. His views are extremely carnal and violent that points out the existential survival of man against the forces of nature. In “Hawk Roosting”, the hawk boasts of its imagined supremacy and power and celebrates it in absolute bliss of ultimate ignorance.