The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Jeffers, Robinson. "Hurt Hawks" from The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers (Random House, 1932).

Note that parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the lines of the poem from which the quotations are taken.

“Hurt Hawks” is a two-stanza poem first published in 1928. It is loosely based on the story of an injured hawk that Jeffers and his son cared for over a six-week period. The poem describes the proud strength of the hawk forced to live for weeks in pain with a broken wing. The poem’s narrator describes how he fed the animal and tried to keep it alive but did not have the ability to heal its wing or nurse it back to full health. The bird seems to beg to be released from its pain after he has gained the respect of the other animals who witness his suffering for refusing to abandon his dignity and poise. The speaker eventually shoots the hawk in mercy at the close of the second stanza, freeing his soul to return to freedom and flight as he wished.