The poem describes an eaglehawk soaring through the sky. It uses descriptive language and figures of speech to depict the eaglehawk's point of view and movements from above. The eaglehawk watches over the animals on the plains and laughs at them from its position of power in the sky. Throughout the poem, the eaglehawk is portrayed as sovereign of the air while the animals live confined to the ground below.

1. Julie Laubscher 2014
EAGLEHAWK
Eaglehawk is like a leaf in the air
All day long going round and round in circles,
Sometimes dark against the sky
And sometimes with his great wings tipped with light
As the sunset edges the clouds…
Only when the night comes and the fire-beetle stars
Twinkle overhead,
Is the sky empty of Eaglehawk.
Eaglehawk sees all the world stretched out below,
The animals scurrying across the plain
Among the tufts of prickly porcupine grass,
Valleys to the east and plains to the west,
And river-courses scribbled across the desert
Like insect tracks in sand; and mountains
Where the world sweeps up to meet him and falls away.
The animals live in the dust.
But Eaglehawk lives in the air.
He laughs to see them.
And when the pans dry up and the rivers shrink,
He laughs still more, and laughing
Sweeps half across the world to drop and drink.
William Hart-Smith
1. Name the figure of speech used in the first line. [1]
2. Why is it a suitable comparison? [1]
3. Write down the metaphor in line 6 (the actual words only) [1]
4. Write down one example of personification in the second stanza. [1]
5. Why is it an effective description? [1]
6. Why does Eaglehawk laugh at the animals in the last stanza? [2]
7. Write down an example of each of the following. They must be
examples which you have not previously mentioned.
7.1 simile
7.2 metaphor
7.3 alliteration [3]
TOTAL: 10
EAGLEHAWK
Eaglehawk is like a leaf in the air
All day long going round and round in circles,
Sometimes dark against the sky
And sometimes with his great wings tipped with light
As the sunset edges the clouds…
Only when the night comes and the fire-beetle stars
Twinkle overhead,
Is the sky empty of Eaglehawk.
Eaglehawk sees all the world stretched out below,
The animals scurrying across the plain
Among the tufts of prickly porcupine grass,
Valleys to the east and plains to the west,
And river-courses scribbled across the desert
Like insect tracks in sand; and mountains
Where the world sweeps up to meet him and falls away.
The animals live in the dust.
But Eaglehawk lives in the air.
He laughs to see them.
And when the pans dry up and the rivers shrink,
He laughs still more, and laughing
Sweeps half across the world to drop and drink.
William Hart-Smith
1. Name the figure of speech used in the first line. [1]
2. Why is it a suitable comparison? [1]
3. Write down the metaphor in line 6 (the actual words only) [1]
4. Write down one example of personification in the second stanza. [1]
5. Why is it an effective description? [1]
6. Why does Eaglehawk laugh at the animals in the last stanza? [2]
7. Write down an example of each of the following. They must be
examples which you have not previously mentioned.
7.4 simile
7.5 metaphor
7.6 alliteration [3]
TOTAL: 10