Conveying the Power of the Hawk

How does Helen Macdonald convey the power of the hawk?

Helen Macdonald and H is for Hawk Helen Macdonald was born in England in 1970. She studied English Literature at Jesus College, Cambridge. After working in falcon conservation she was a Research Fellow at Jesus College between 2004 and 2007. She has written exclusively on the natural world, and in 2014 her memoir H is for Hawk won the Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction H is for Hawk tells the story of Helen Macdonald s attempt to cope with her violent grief, after the sudden death of her father. She finds herself single, nearly middle-aged, and about to finish her job as an academic at Cambridge college, and in search of a permanent place to live. To try and find some meaning in her increasingly chaotic life, she decided to train a young goshawk, a beautiful but difficult bird of prey to handle. Her father had introduced her to the world of falconry and she believes it will honour his memory. In between the story of her training the hawk, Macdonald describes the experience of a much earlier writer, T H White who in The Goshawk (1951) wrote of his struggles to tame the bird.

How does Macdonald convey the power of the hawk?

Hackles Wings Primaries (end of wings) Talons

1. We hear the first bird before we see it. Verb: punched The verb here reinforces the aggressive nature of the hawk. 1. The bird is a powerful bird. 2. It is scared because the hood is off. Noun phrase: A sudden thump the adjective sudden indicates movement that is responsive rather than planned. The noun thump is hard and aggressive. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 We noted the numbers. We stared down at the boxes, at their parcel-tape handles, their doors of thin plywood and hinges of carefully tied string. Then he knelt on the concrete, untied a hinge on the smaller box and squinted into its dark interior. A sudden thump of feathered shoulders and the box shook as if someone had punched it, hard, from within. She s got her hood off, he said, and frowned. That light, leather hood was to keep the hawk from fearful sights. Like us. Noun: battle implies that the writer sees this as an enemy to conquer. 16 17 18 19 20 21 Another hinge untied. Concentration. Infinite caution. Daylight irrigating the box. Scratching talons, another thump. And another. Thump. The air turned syrupy, slow, flecked with dust. The last few seconds before a battle. And with the last bow pulled free, he reached inside, and amidst a whirring, chaotic clatter of wings and feet and talons and a high-pitched twittering and it s all happening at once, Short sentences: Another hinge untied. Concentration. Infinite caution shows the tension in undoing the box and the apprehension felt because of the bird s movements. Verbs: whirring , twittering / noun phrase chaotic clatter frenetic activity onomatopoeic Noun phrases: another thump persistent noise and attempt to get out suggesting fear. The repetition shows the bird has no signs of giving up and is relentless in trying to break free. Polysyndeton: and amidst and feet and talons and a high- pitched Lots of activity happening all at once Noun phrases: Scratching talons the bird is clawing at the box. Onomatopoeic

2. The first bird is a powerful creature Repetition: enormous, enormous emphasizing its size and scale and the awe of the writer. Adjective: sharp dangerous aspect of the claws trying to claw their way out. 21 22 23 24 25 26 ..the man pulls an enormous, enormous hawk out of the box and in a strange coincidence of world and deed a great flood of sunlight drenches us and everything is brilliance and fury. The hawk s wings, barred and beating, the sharp fingers of her dark-tipped primaries cutting the air, her feathers raised like the scattered quills of a fretful porpentine. Two enormous eyes. Simile: like the scattered quills of a fretful porpentine Imagery of another animal to suggest the tails are standing on end. The use of the adjective scattered suggests that the movement is hurried and fearful. Repetition: Two enormous eyes cyclical structure bringing it back to the enormity of the eyes which potentially are piercing her. Verbs: barred, beating feeling of being trapped and beating against this sense of claustrophobia

List of imagery: A conjuring trick. A reptile. A fallen angel. A griffon A broken marionette the images try to express what she sees. A conjuring trick is a hint that the hawk is unreal. Reptile like any other bird, more like another creature entirely. Fallen Angel Lucifer banished from heaven for pride and opposing God. Hawk is unreal, unearthly creature, with potential for great evil alongside great beauty. Griffon half lion, half-eagle. Implying that the hawk is far beyond other creatures in ferocity and magnificence. Broken marionette bird is not free, but like a broken puppet on a string dominated by man. 3. Macdonald is in awe of the bird. Short sentence: My heart jumps sideways emphasizing the tension and anxiety Macdonald feels. 26 27 28 29 30 31 Two enormous eyes. My heart jumps sideways. She is a conjuring trick. A reptile. A fallen angel. A griffon from the pages of an illuminated bestiary. Something bright and distant, like gold falling through water. A broken marionette of wings, legs and light-splashed feathers. She is wearing jesses, and the man holds them. For one awful, long moment she is hanging head- downward, wings open, like a turkey in a butcher s shop, only her head Simile: like gold falling through water trying to get us understand the terrible beauty and strangeness of the bird. Image: like a turkey in a butcher s shop at this point Macdonald thinks the bird is vulnerable and in danger.

4. The power of freedom for the bird. Three parallel structures: no larger than a living room. The it was a box. But now it is this The structure here is that every time the bird is moved, the space is getting bigger, with this ultimate space being the largest the bird has seen. Clause: she is seeing more than she has ever seen before in her whole short life this is a real reflection of the freedom the bird is about to experience. 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 is turned right-way-up and she is seeing more than she has ever seen before in her whole short life. Her world was an aviary no larger than a living room. Then it was a box. But now it is this; and she can see everything: the point-source glitter on the waves, a diving cormorant a hundred yards out; pigment flakes under wax on the lines of parked cars; far hills and the heather on them and miles and miles of sky where the sun spreads on dust and water and illegible things moving in it that are white scraps of gulls. Everything startling and new- stamped on her entirely astonished brain. Listing: glitter on the waves, a diving cormorant the lines of parked cars far hills and miles of sky Macdonald is noticing the natural environment and the details in this environment that the hawk is being introduced to for the first time. All things that the human eye would struggle to see. This emphasizes the sensitivity to new spaces and new sounds. Verbs: startling , astonished The recognition that this moment of freedom for the hawk is a moment of awe that could potentially be over-whelming. The use of the adjective new in the metaphor new-stamped reinforces this experience being a first but being imprinted in the bird s mind.

5. Concern for the bird and its taste of freedom. Verb: concern care and compassion shown towards the bird. Imperative: Let s get that hood back on sense of care for the overwhelming nature of seeing everything for the first time. 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 against his chest, gripping her scaled yellow legs in one hand. Let s get that hood back on, he said tautly. There was concern in his face. It was born of care. This hawk had been hatched in an incubator, had broken from a frail bluish eggshell into a humid Perspex box, and for the first few days of her life this man had fed her with scraps of meat held in a pair of tweezers, waiting patiently for the lumpen, fluffy chick to notice the food and eat, her new neck wobbling with the effort of keeping her head in the air. All at once I loved this man, and fiercely. Tricolon / long complex sentence: hatched in an incubator broken from a frail bluish eggshell had fed her with scrap of meat The idea being that the bird has lived a sheltered life in captivity and this is a significant transition for it to go through. Short sentence: All at once I loved this man, and fiercely Seeing his care and compassion for the bird and the way he has nurtured it evokes an emotional response in Macdonald. The use of the short sentence after an incredibly long and complex one emphasizes her emotions reminds us of her desire for a bird to help with her grief.

5. Concern for the bird and its taste of freedom. Verb: stared because the whole world had fallen into them at once. Sensory overload in terms of seeing a new world open up before it. There is an intensity in the gaze. Verbs and adjectives: open , raised , wild the bird is somewhat distressed because of the overwhelming assault on its senses. 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 I loved this man, and fiercely. I grabbed the hood from the box and turned to the hawk. Her beak was open, her hackles raised; her wild eyes were the colour of sun on white paper, and they stared because the whole world had fallen into them at once. One, two, three. I tucked the hood over her head. There was a brief intimation of a thin, angular skull under her feathers, of an alien brain fizzing and fusing with terror, then I drew the braces closed. We checked the ring numbers against the form. Clause: an alien brain fizzing and fusing with terror recognition of the hawk s brain being hard at work. The use of the alliterative fizzing and fusing suggests that it is busy but the noun terror suggests the bird is fearful, most probably because of sights unseen before..

6. The wrong bird. Short paragraph contrasted against longer ones: It was the wrong bird Oh Emphasises her shock and her uncertainty in the situation. The sequence of short sentences seek to reinforce her immediate thoughts 57 58 It was the wrong bird. This was the younger one. The smaller one. This was not my hawk. 59 Oh.

7. The other bird: the wrong type of power Colloquial language: And dear God, it did Informal language here shows immediate response which is more negative. Noun phrases: Victorian melodrama , madwoman in the attic A melodrama is an unrealistic play, often showing very extreme emotions implying how agitated the bird it. Madwoman in the attack is a pun on the phrase madwoman in the attic , which refers to the Victorian novel Jane Eye, in which Mr Rochester s first wife, suffering from mental illness, is hidden away from everyone in the attic of the house. This suggests the bird is uncontrollable and dangerous and has a potential rage that scares Macdonald. Comparative adjectives: smokier , darker , bigger Macdonald is comparing this bird to the other one and it doesn t seem this bird is as favourable 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 So we put her back and opened the other box, which was meant to hold the larger, older bird. And dear God, it did. Everything about this second hawk was different. She came out like a Victorian melodrama: a sort of madwoman in the attack. She was smokier and darker and much, much bigger, and instead of twittering, she wailed; great, awful gouts of sound like a thing in pain, and the sound was unbearable. This is my hawk, I was telling myself and it was all I could do to breathe. She too was bareheaded, and I grabbed the hood from the box as before. But as I brought it up to her face I looked into her eyes and saw something blank and crazy in her stare. Some madness from a distant country. I didn t recognise her. This isn t my hawk. Juxtaposition of sound: twittering , wailed Whilst the other bird twittered a much more pleasing sound, this bird wails a loud, painful cry Noun phrase: great awful gouts of sound Gouts are large drops of blood usually. A horrible image so suggests Macdonald is frightened of the new bird. Adjectives: blank , crazy There doesn t seem to be anything there, especially in terms of emotional connection Short sentences: Some madness from my hawk A different country shows a lack of unity. The short sentences show that Macdonald is not engaging with this second, more aggressive bird.

7. The power of choice and knowing what we need Reported speech: This is really awkward do you think? dramatizes the attempt to persuade the man to let her have the younger bird. Noun phrase: monstrous breach of etiquette Macdonald realizes she is being cheeky but feels strongly about the bird 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 yellow form folded, the money exchanged, and all I could think was, But this isn t my hawk. Slow panic. I knew what I had to say, and it was a monstrous breach of etiquette. This is really awkward, I began. But I really liked the first one. Do you think there s any chance I could take that one instead ? I tailed off. His eyebrows were raised. I started again, saying stupider things: I m sure the other falconer would like the larger bird? She s more beautiful than the first one, isn t she? I know this is out of order, but I Could I? Would it be all right, do you think? And on and on, a desperate, crazy barrage of incoherent appeals. Imagery of self: wind- wrecked hair , exhausted eyes pleading , Medea Description suggests how odd she feels. Comparison to Medea who was a character from Greek theatre driven mad by grief links to her own sense of grief by her father s death. I m sure nothing I said persuaded him more than the look on my face as I said it. A tall, white-faced woman with wind-wrecked hair and exhausted eyes was pleading with him on a quayside, hands held out as if she were in a seaside production of Medea. Looking at me he must have sensed that my stuttered request wasn t a simple one. That there was something behind it that was very important. There was a moment of total silence. Noun phrases: a desperate, crazy barrage of incoherent appeals Tries to justify the swap. Barrage violent image of coming under enemy fire. 80 81 82 83 84 85 Complex sentence: Looking at me he must have sensed that my stuttered request wasn t a simple one The importance for her personally in getting the right bird. Cliffhanger ending: There was a moment of total silence. We are left to wonder what hawk Macdonald got.

How does Macdonald convey the power of the hawk? The power in its physicality The power in moving from captivity to freedom How power can create awe and wonder but fear and apprehension as well The power of the right hawk to support the healing process