The poem personifies the hawk, giving him human thoughts, and it opens up with the image of the hawk sitting on top of a tree with eyes closed. He is not dreaming, only resting from his hunts and thinking about the next ones.
Me, my, I: the hawk is very self-absorbed, thinking the entire world is his hunting ground made for his convenience. The third stanza shows more of the hawk’s narcissistic, self-absorbed, thoughts. He sees himself as the perfect specimen of creation, and now he holds Creation in his claws.
The poem continues with the self-absorbed possessive pronouns: the hawk comments on the entire world being his (“mine”) created for him to kill wherever he wants. He is a killing machine, his purpose and his right is to bring death, to tear of heads, to kill.
The Final stanza closes the poem with the hawk commenting that things were always like this for him, and that he will never permit otherwise. The personified hawk that is given very human thoughts is reminiscent of a very certain type of humans: narcissistic, self-absorbed, lacking empathy and consideration for anyone else.
