Hello everybody and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Miss Halliday and I'll be teaching you today.

In today's lesson, we're going be analysing the fantastic poem by Ted Hughes, "Hawk Roosting." I'm really looking forward to hearing all your contributions in our discussion activities and seeing the response that you create at the end of today's lesson.

For today's lesson, you will require a copy of the Eduqas Poetry Anthology, which looks like this.

So if you haven't got yours with you, please make sure that you pause the video and run to go and get it.

Brilliant.

I can see we've all got ours.

So let's get started.

So today's lesson is called Analysing Hawk Roosting, and by the end of today's lesson you'll be able to explain how Hughes uses language, form and structure to express his viewpoint.

Here are some key words that you will need to unlock today's learning, starting with the word omniscient.

Now, omniscient means all seeing and all knowing.

So somebody that knows everything might be described as omniscient.

Now, omnipotent means all powerful or having unlimited power.

Now the poem today takes the form of a dramatic monologue, and this is a poem written from the perspective of one character.

We're going to be talking a lot about morality today.

So we've got immoral, moral, but then we also have this concept of amoral, which you might not have heard before.

And amoral means lacking a sense of morality.

So having no regard for what is right and what is wrong.

And finally, the word regime means an ordered way of doing things.

If you'd like to take a moment to pause the video and jot any of these keyword definitions down, then please feel free to do that at your leisure.

Here's how we're going to approach and structure today's lesson.

We're going to start by considering the omniscience of the hawk before moving on to talking about how power and control is presented in this poem.

But let's start first of all by looking at the hawk's omniscience.

So I'd like to begin today's lesson with a discussion, and I'd like you to try and remember the poem and think, well, what were your first impressions of the hawk in "Hawk Roosting"? Now this might be done as a discussion if you're able to.

However, if you can't discuss this with other people as there's no one around you, then please feel free to think about this independently by either bullet pointing your ideas or brainstorming in your head.

Pause the video and consider this question now.

Fantastic discussions and really well done if you remembered that the hawk in this poem is presented as a highly egotistical and conceited killing machine.

So moving on to another discussion, I'd like you to think, well, what does it mean to be omniscient? Who or what is presented as omniscient and omnipotent in the poem? So this will enable you to think back to the beginning of the lesson where we define those key terms and then apply your new knowledge to the poem and think about who in the poem is presented as omniscient and omnipotent.

So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you consider that question, again with the people around you or independently, if that's how you're working today.

Off you go.

Fantastic and really well done if you recognised that the poet actually presents the hawk as omniscient and omnipotent because he appears to know everything, but he also sees everything from his top perch in the wood.

So I'd like you to discuss now, well, God is actually often thought to be omniscient and omnipotent as well.

So I'd like you to think, well, what does this mean for the hawk? How does he view himself therefore? Again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while discuss that with the people around you and try and articulate how the hawk views himself.

Fantastic and well done if you recognised that the hawk arguably views himself as a God-like figure in the poem, who controls life and death in the wood.

So really well done if you were able to link that to the specific example of the hawk having control over the lives and deaths of the other animals in the wood that he controls.

So what I'd like you to do now is I'd like to check your understanding of the key words because they're quite similar sounding words, but they have different meanings.

So I'd like you to match the key words up to the correct definitions.

In order to do that, I'd like you to pause the video while you read the definitions and decide which of the two keywords it matches up to.

So pause the video and off you go to do that now.

And really well done if you remembered that omnipotent means all powerful, so having unlimited power, and omniscient means all seeing, all knowing.

And the way I remember this is quite simple, to be honest.

Omnipotent, if something is potent, it is powerful.

But you could also remember it as P for powerful.

And omniscient, which has S in it.

S for seeing, scient means obviously sounds like seeing, so that's how I remember them.

So remember, P for powerful S for seeing.

So omnipotent, omniscient.

So onto our first task of the lesson now, which is quite a meaty task.

Okay, so I'm really looking forward to seeing you get your teeth stuck into this one.

We're going to start to track Hughes's presentation of the hawk as omniscient and omnipotent throughout the poem.

So I'm going to ask you to annotate your anthology using the questions below to help you really understand how the hawk is presented as a God-like figure.

So I'd like you to reread stanza one and I'd like you to think, well, how do we know that the hawk sees everything? So how do we know that this hawk is omniscient? And what I'm looking for you to do here is to highlight keywords and phrases and make brief notes around your poem about how they show you that the hawk sees everything.

You're then going to do the same thing for stanza two.

So you're going to reread it and you're going to consider, well, what is it that gives us this impression that the hawk controls his entire environment much like a God? So what makes the hawk omnipotent? Again, you will highlight keywords and phrases and make those brief annotations around your poem.

Stanza three is going to ask you to consider how the hawk presents himself as equal to God.

Stanza four, you're going to look at how the hawk is presented as omnipotent.

So what role does he play in the wood? In stanza five, you're going to look at what the hawk's purpose is or what he believes his purpose to be and what or who gives him this purpose.

So again, picking out keywords and phrases, annotating them with your ideas and thoughts.

And finally stanza six, you're going to reread and you're going to think about, well, where do we get a sense of the hawk's power and real control of his environment here? Again, how is the hawk presented as omnipotent there? So as I said, you are using these targeted questions to annotate your anthology, looking at how this hawk is presented as omniscient and omnipotent.

So I'm really looking forward to seeing what annotations you write.

So pause the video and off you go to get started on this task now.

Wow, what unbelievable effort I've seen there.

I am so impressed by how many annotations you have managed to make using these questions.

This shows me that you not only have a really good understanding of the poem, but that you are absolutely full of ideas, which is brilliant because when you come to write about this poem, your enthusiasm will just ooze through the page.

So really well done for your effort in that task.

I'm super, super impressed.

So what we're going to do now is unpick some of the ideas that you might have had for each of these stanzas and the questions that you were asked.

So first of all, in stanza one you were asked about how the hawk is presented as omniscient and omnipotent.

And the answer to this is the fact that actually the hawk occupies the very top position in the wood, both literally because he sits in the highest tree, but also metaphorically because he's the apex predator in the wood.

He has complete control over that food chain, okay? And his physical appearance is what gives him that control, okay? The fact that he has this hooked appearance is what enables him to have and maintain that control, much like a God.

So he has a real advantage over the other animals there, not only physically because he sits at, you know, right at the very top of his environment, but also metaphorically because he's been given these advantages that enabled him to maintain control over the other animals.

So in stanza two, what gives us the impression that the hawk controls his entire environment like a God? Well, you might have said that the hawk believes that everything in his environment has been designed to be advantageous to him.

So this, he believes, gives him the power to control the environment and maintain that really strict regime of control.

Now, let's talk about this in a little bit more detail because we've obviously talked in stanza one about how the hawk's physical characteristics give him that power, but here we also see that arguably nature has given him that power as well because he feels that everything on the, you know, on the earth or in this wood at least, has given him this advantage as well.

He talks about the fact that the, obviously the earth, you know, faces him and the fact that the sun gives him that advantage that he's able to see creatures on the forest floor really easily.

So again, even his environment is giving him power.

And that's really important to acknowledge because arguably this makes the hawk infallible so unable to be defeated because he's got that physical advantage and his environment is advantageous to him as well.

So well done if you got that.

Brilliant.

And it is worth mentioning that as we're going through these ideas, if you see something that you think will be useful for your annotations and your notes, please absolutely pause the video and take a moment to jot some ideas down.

You know, that's what these answers are there for, they're there for you to take, so please take full advantage of them.

So thinking about stanza three then where you were asked about how the hawk presents himself as equal to God.

Well, the hawk actually really marvels at his own design, so his physical characteristics and he appreciates the intricacies of his foot.

So the way in which his foot has been designed with the specific purpose of punting and killing in mind.

And he boasts about how this required the whole of creation to produce.

Okay, so he is almost boasting that the best, best aspects of design from the whole of nature were kind of mixed together and combined to create this really kind of fit for purpose and predatory foot that he uses to kind of kill and maim his animal victims. And he arguably feels, as we've said, that his physical anatomy gives him power and has enabled him to usurp his creator, which makes him omnipotent.

So there is this almost suggestion that he thinks he's more powerful than anything, that he thinks he's more powerful than God.

And this suggestion of him perhaps having usurped his creator is in where he talks about the fact that he holds the power in his hand.

So in stanza four, how is the hawk presented as omnipotent? What role does he play in the wood? As we've said, the hawk flaunts his omnipotence by boasting, okay? This entire poem is arguably just one big boast about the pleasure that he takes in killing wherever he pleases because he feels that he owns the wood and all of the creatures who inhabit it.

So he feels that he has power over absolutely everything in his environment and that that gives him the right to carry out all this killing.

And interestingly, the hawk makes no apologies for his behaviour, stating that he doesn't need to justify his actions because the wood and everything in it belongs to him.

So he is presented as amoral and remember that amoral means the way you're not concerned with morality.

And actually if we think about what Hughes was trying to achieve in this poem, arguably that is the right interpretation of this hawk because arguably Hughes wrote this poem to illustrate the instinctive savagery of nature.

And that's exactly what we get here with this hawk.

He doesn't need to apologise because actually he's not really doing anything wrong.

This killing and hunting is completely instinctive to him.

So it would never even cross his mind that this would be amoral, because actually it isn't.

It's just nature.

This is how nature functions and therefore there are no apologies for this hawk to have made.

So again, really well done if you got that.

And as I said, if you want to take anything from these notes, please feel free to do that.

And finally, looking at stanzas five and six.

Well first of all, in terms of what the hawk believes his purpose is and what's given him this purpose, the hawk believes that his purpose and his right, and he actually uses that word right, is to decide which creatures live and which creatures die in the wood.

And again, this illustrates that he views himself as a God-like figure because arguably that is the role of God to decide people's fate.

And as we said earlier, he actually doesn't make any apologies for his behaviour.

And he argues that no arguments have given him the permission to make these decisions.

He has just taken it upon himself to use his power to control the wood.

Arguably he's just using what nature's given him.

So again, is there a question of morality here? Arguably not because he's just using the advantages that he's been given by nature.

And finally in stanza six in terms of where we get that sense that the hawk has that real power and control.

Well, yes, we get it throughout the entire poem, but it's really reinforced in the final stanza, okay? The tone in the final stanza is really quite sinister and almost threatening because the hawk boasts that nothing has been changed whilst he has been in power because he hasn't permitted any change, and that word permitted means to allow.

So he's saying, I've not allowed anything to change while I've been in power.

And this shows his omnipotence because he has total, total control over his environment.

And actually the hawk ends his entire musings with a very solemn vow to remain in control.

And again, if we're thinking about the morality of that, well, nature has given him the tools and the equipment to maintain that control.

Why should he not use it? Okay, so again, can we really characterise this hawk as evil and immoral? I'm not sure.

Okay? so really well done if you've got any of those ideas and fantastic, if you want to take any ideas and suggestions and use them in your own work, that's absolutely fine.

I'll give you a moment to do that if that's what you want to do.

So onto the second part of the lesson now where we are going to consider power and control in a little bit more depth.

So as we know in the poem, we actually only hear one voice and it is the voice of the hawk.

And I'd like you to think, well, what is a poem written from the perspective of just one character called? Can you remember what it is called? I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you discuss that with the people around you or consider it independently if that's how you're working today.

Off you go.

Fantastic and really well remembered, if like Izzy, you were able to remember that this kind of poem is called a dramatic monologue.

Now, a way to remember this is the fact that mono means one and logue means discourse or speech.

So one person speaking, monologue.

So now that we know the form of this poem, I want us to consider why it's been used.

It is no good just identifying the form if you can't explain its effect.

So I'd like you to think now, well why might Hughes have chosen this form for the poem? What might he be trying to illustrate about the hawk through choosing this form? So what does this form tell us about the hawk basically? Again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video, feel free to discuss this.

Feel free to jot some ideas down independently.

Whatever works for you today, I'm happy for you to do.

I'm really looking forward to hearing what you might say and sharing some ideas together.

So pause the video and off you go.

Brilliant discussions.

And I just get more impressed every single time I ask you to discuss something by the quality and the depth of your discussions.

So really, really well done.

Now, Izzy wanted to contribute her idea and she said, well, perhaps Hughes was trying to show the egotism and the power of the hawk, so how arrogant this hawk actually is.

So really well done if you got that.

I would agree.

Now I'd like you to think a bit about this a little bit more.

So we know that we're only given one perspective in this poem, and we also know that in this learning cycle, we are talking about power.

So I'd like you to think about how this, the fact that we only get this one voice, we only get this one perspective, how does that itself link to the idea of control or power? What is being controlled here? Now, this is a difficult question, so I'd be really, really impressed if anyone manages to come up with a really insightful answer to this.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider this question, again, either with people around you or think about it independently.

Let's see if you can impress me.

Pause the video and off you go to discuss that now.

Okay.

Wow, I'm super impressed.

Some really, really insightful suggestions there.

And the one that I heard that I liked the best was this idea as Izzy says that actually the hawk has all the control and power in this poem and actually that control and power extends to us and how we read this poem because we only hear his perspective.

So actually he actually also controls our perception of the wood, okay? If you imagine that this poem was written from the perspective of, let's say, a rabbit who lives on the forest floor about the hawk, it would sound very different.

So the fact that we only get this one perspective from the hawk means that the hawk is actually also controlling us in a way and our perspective on the events that are being narrated in this poem and the situation and circumstances that the hawk is in.

So that's really interesting to consider as well, the power dynamic between the speaker and the poem, the hawk and the reader.

And well done to those of you that did get that, I'm super impressed.

So thinking a little bit more about the form and the fact that this is a dramatic monologue and therefore arguably the hawk is speaking to somebody, I'd like you to think about who do you think he's speaking to? Who might the intended audience for the hawk's speech actually be? So who might he be speaking to and why? Again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you consider this either with people around you or independently, whichever you'd prefer.

Pause the video and off you go to consider that now.

Fantastic discussions and really well done.

And here's what Sofia had to say to the same question.

She said, perhaps the hawk is speaking to the whole of mankind and trying to illustrate how powerful nature is in comparison to human beings.

And that's a really interesting perspective, and I think it's a perspective that could very easily form a really good and interesting comparison when we look at this poem in relation to some of the other poems about power, and equally some of the other poems about nature in the Eduqas Anthology.

So thank you to Sofia for giving us that perspective, I think it's a really useful one.

And what I'd like to think now is well, as well as his physical attributes, as well as his position in the wood's hierarchy, what else gives the hawk power? So I'd like you to think about the quality of his voice here.

What is it that gives him power over even us as a reader as well? So I'm gonna invite you now to pause the video while you consider that question.

Again, either with people around you or independently, whatever works for you today.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic, and really well done if you thought about the hawk's intelligence because actually his intelligence and his eloquence, so how well he's able to express his thoughts and opinions gives him power.

He's so articulate that he's able to express his emotions very, very easily, which gives him power and makes us respect him because we can tell that he's highly intelligent.

So again, really well done if you managed to notice that actually the hawk's eloquence and intelligence also gives him a level of intellectual power over the reader and obviously over the other animals in the wood as well.

So brilliant work.

So let's check for understanding.

Which of the following makes the poem a dramatic monologue? Is it A, the fact that it has six stanzas, B, the fact that it has an irregular rhyme scheme, C, the fact that it is written from the perspective of one character or D, the fact that the speaker is an animal? I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you decide what you think makes a poem a dramatic monologue.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

And I think most people got that right there.

Well done.

It is indeed the fact that it's written from the perspective of just one character.

Remember, mono means one, logue means to speak.

So really well done if you remembered that.

So what I'd like you to do now is reread the poem and I'd like you to count how many times the hawk uses the pronoun I, me, or my.

I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you do just that now.

Fantastic and really well done if you managed to identify that Hughes uses the pronouns, I, me, my, or mine 20 times in the poem.

That's quite a lot, okay? Especially considering this poem has six stanzas, that is a lot of times to say the word, I, me, my, or mine.

So I'd like you to think, well, what does that show us about the hawk? And again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you consider that either independently or in groups.

It's up to you, but off you go to consider that now.

Fantastic discussion.

Some brilliant suggestions raised there, and I'd like to hear from our Oak pupils now who might be able to give you some food for thought as well.

So here are two suggestions from our Oak pupils.

Lucas said this, "Hughes' frequent and repeated use of personal pronouns characterises the hawk as egocentric and conceited.

This allows him to present the hawk as immensely arrogant and controlling in order to show us the power of nature." And here's what Sofia had to say.

She said, "The repeated use of personal pronouns show us that the hawk's only concern is his survival and that this is what motivates his killing.

We cannot think of the hawk as a selfish figure because he is simply acting instinctively to survive." So here Sofia is kind of saying that this doesn't make the hawk selfish, it just shows his natural instinct.

Whereas Lucas is kind of saying, well, this shows us how selfish the hawk is.

So I'm going to invite you now to consider what your opinion on each of these statements is.

Is there one that you agree with or disagree with more? And why is that? So I'm going to invite you now to consider these two statements and think about whether you agree with them both, you agree with one but not the other, you disagree with them both.

So basically, what is it that you think of these statements and why do you think what you think? I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider these statements and have discussions about them if possible.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic, really well done.

Some really brilliant discussions having gone on there.

So fantastic work.

So what I'd like you to think about now is, well why did Hughes write this poem? What was he trying to portray? So I'm going to invite you again to pause the video while you try and remember what you've learned about why Hughes wrote this poem.

Off you go.

Fantastic and well done to those of you that remembered that Hughes was really interested in the hierarchies of the animal kingdom and the concept of survival of the fittest.

So I'd like you to think now, well bearing in mind what we've discussed this lesson, bearing in mind why Hughes wrote the poem, is the hawk egotistical or is he just acting on instinct? Does the hawk get pleasure from killing or is this just instinct as well? So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you consider those questions, again with people around you or thinking about them independently, whatever you would prefer.

I'm really interested to see what you come up with, particularly for the second question.

So pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

And I'm going to share one idea that I heard someone say that I was really impressed with.

So this student said that arguably the hawk's primary concern or only instinct is to survive himself.

He is unconcerned with the welfare of other animals because he himself needs to survive.

So arguably he doesn't get pleasure from killing or that the pleasure in killing comes purely from the fact that he needs to eat.

Okay, many of you will enjoy eating, I certainly do.

So arguably is that pleasure in the sense of he feels satisfied in a kind of sinister way, or is it just that kind of instinctive need for food? So onto the last task of the lesson now.

Here is a statement that I'd like you to consider.

This poem is about the ugliness of nature rather than the beauty of it.

The hawk doesn't abuse his power, he just uses it to behave naturally.

To what extent do you agree with the statement? And I'd like you to write a response to this task.

Now, when you're writing, I'd like you to use the checklist to write a really brilliant and convincing response.

So you need to make sure that you are giving a really clear opinion on what you think about this statement.

You need to be evidencing your opinion by including a quotation from the poem.

You then, with that quotation, need to explain very clearly what it shows you and how it links to the statement.

And then you need to make sure that you are including relevant context and making sure that you are using really tentative language.

So words like could, might, perhaps because we're never, never sure what the poet was trying to achieve.

We can never truly know that because we are not the poet.

So as I said, I want this in the form of a written response and use the checklist.

You can even tick off the different components of the checklist as you go through to make sure that you've included them all.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you have a go at writing your response.

I'm really looking forward to reading your answers.

Fantastic effort.

Really well done there.

And I could see that some people wrote well over a paragraph, which is super, super impressive given the time that you had there.

So really, really well done.

Now what you're going to do is swap your work with a partner.

And if you don't have a partner, bear with me.

I'll explain to you what you're going to do in just a moment.

Now, if you are able to swap your work, you are going to read your partner's work and check it against the checklist.

So have they given a clear opinion? Have they included that quotation? Have they explained what it shows? Have they included relevant context about Hughes and what he was interested in? Or perhaps the controversy that surrounded the publication of this poem? Have they used tentative language like might, perhaps, and could? You're then going to give them a what went well.

So you're going to identify something in their response that they've done really well that you would like to praise them for.

So it might be that they've really included a really strong quotation to support their argument.

So you would say what went well, you have included a really good quotation to support your argument.

You're then also going to give them an EBI, which is an even better if.

So you're gonna identify either something that they haven't done from the checklist or something that they've done, but you think they could have done it a little bit more effectively.

So for example, they might have included some context, so they might have said that Hughes was interested in animals, but they might not have really explained why that's important when we're considering this poem.

So they might not have said something about how it shows us that Hughes might be trying to explore the hierarchies that motivate killing in the animal kingdom and how this could arguably be a metaphor for human behaviour.

Okay, so you're going to give them a what went well and an even better if.

Now if you don't have a partner, that's absolutely fine because what you're going to do is get a highlighter and a pen and you're going to label where you have met the success criteria in the checklist.

So you're going to label where you've given a clear opinion, you're going to label your use of quotation, you're going to label your explanation, your relevant context and your tentative language to make sure that you have indeed hit all of the points on the success criteria.

So what I'm gonna invite you to do now is pause the video while you either undertake the peer assessment or do this as a self-assessment task if you're working on your own.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic.

And I could see some really respectful and constructive feedback being given there.

So really well done.

You should be very proud of yourselves.

And of course, now that you've got your really fantastic feedback, you're going to improve your work using your partner's response and feedback.

Again, if you don't have a partner, where you identified that you could have done something better or where you identified that you hadn't in fact met all of the success criteria.

You need to take a moment now to add in what you missed.

So I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you have a go at reflecting on and improving your work.

So pause the video and off you go to do that now.

You might want to do this in a different colour pen so that you can see the improvements that you've made, but you don't have to.

It's up to you.

So off you go, pause the video and have a go at that now.

Fantastic and some really, really vastly improved responses there that you should be very, very proud of.

Brilliant work.

So to summarise the learning from today.

Well, first of all, we know that the hawk is presented as omniscient and omnipotent because he appears to know everything and see everything from his top perch.

Arguably, the hawk views himself as a godlike figure who controls life and death in the wood.

We also learned that the poem takes the form of a dramatic monologue because we only hear the voice of the hawk in the poem, and this could reflect the control that the hawk has over the wood.

And finally, Hughes repeatedly uses personal pronouns perhaps to show that the hawk's only interest is his own survival.

He is amoral, so he has no real sense of right or wrong, or he's unconcerned with it.

Thank you so much for coming to today's lesson, for all your effort in our discussion tasks and the incredible resilience that you demonstrated in that last writing task.

There were some fantastic responses there that you should be really, really proud of.

I really look forward to seeing you next time, and I hope you have a lovely rest of your day.

See you later.