My Findings on Reading Poem 1, "Raptor"

On reading the poem “Raptor” on page 3 of the poetry book, I mainly took it to be focused on the concept of the wilderness disappearing because humans are destroying it. This concept is subtly approached in the first two stanzas, and then stated outright in the third. In line 1, the speaker states, “…I wanted…a goshawk on my wrist,” this declaration indicating the human’s desire for ownership of the creature, and ultimately the “wilderness” (2). The statement of line 1 has a materialistic ring to it, almost as though the bird is a piece of jewelry, such as a watch or bracelet. Despite this negative connotation, the speaker clearly loves the goshawk, stating that he is its “nurse, waiter,/And janitor,” (4-5). It seems to be sadly indicated that the purpose for the bird’s captivity is that it is “rare” (endangered) and therefore requires human intervention for its survival (7). The concept of the bird’s rarity is reiterated in stanza 2, line 14, and stanza 3, line 21. In lines 16-17, the cause of the bird being “docile” is revealed to be an effect of it going “extinct” because, except for nature preserves, there is “no wilderness” (20).   

There is an interesting shift of speaker in stanza three as it seems to be spoken by the goshawk itself. Suddenly the speaker of stanzas 1 and 2 is addressed by this second voice, saying, “You wanted a little bit of wilderness/Held docile on your wrist” (15-16). The reason I think it’s the goshawk is because in line 19, the new speaker states that there is no wilderness except what it/he/she is allowed, apparently by the previous speaker/other humans (“you”).

I would be interested to know the full significance of each sentence in the repeated line, “Now Chiefly poet. Now Shakes. Now sing. Now rare” since the meaning the first three are elusive (7, 14, and 21). Is the speaker referring to himself as the poet, or is the bird the poet? What on earth does Shakes signify? Does sing refer to the act of the poet or the bird? On that last question, the bird certainly is referred to as being like a poem in lines 10-11, indicating that the austringer is the poet, or at least an admirer of poetry.