This poem uses the hawk to explore the effects of power. This is done by telling the poem through the hawks’ eyes and personifying it so the hawk can have a voice to share its thoughts and feelings with us.
The opening line of the poem states the hawk’s superiority by saying “I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.” This shows he is higher up than all the other animals and therefore more superior and more important. Also by saying “my eyes closed” he suggests that nothing can bother him and that he is untouchable because he is so superior and no other animal would dare to cross him because he thinks he is so powerful.
When he says “no falsifying dream” it shows that he thinks he is perfect so he doesn’t dream about being able to do things because he can already do them really well. This also shows he is superior and powerful. Again he is shown as powerful when it says “…hooked head and feet….perfect kills and eat” it shows this because he tells us about his hooked head and feet which he considers his best weapons. Also the fact that he says kills first, then eats shows his prowess in the fact that he prefers to eat than to kill and he is so powerful that he can kill anytime he wants just for fun and not just killing so he can eat.