Critical Commentary on “Crow” by A. MacLean and “Hawk Roosting” by T. Hughes

Indre Kunigelyte
September 20, 2003

Critical Commentary on “Crow” by A. MacLean and “Hawk Roosting” by T. Hughes

The first of the two poems – “Crow” by A. MacLean has six stanzas of unusual three lines each. “Hawk Roosting” by T.Hughes also has the same number of stanzas, however they consist of four lines of about the same length.
The first poem has an odd rhyme structure – ABA. The lines are generally of the same length. Short sentences, in which it is written, help to emphasise the content.
“Crow” is a descriptive poem in which the bird crow is described. It starts with the repetition “Crow, crow, crow” introducing the subject and the image of the very first day of the Earth, in which the bird is already flying around, suggesting that it had been there before anything else. The second and the third stanzas describe the physical appearance of the crow. The fourth and the fifth talk more about its mental characteristics. In the last stanza w...