H is for Hawk

'She was smokier, and darker, and much much bigger'

Comparatives between the two birds and polysyndeton intensify the impression of the second bird.

'There was a moment of total silence'

Short sentence cliff hanger creates suspense as the reader wonders what happens next

'A great flood of sunlight drenches us'

Metaphor and Pathetic fallacy used to interest the reader by suggesting positivity. Also unorthodox as drenches do not usually refer to sunlight, adds to the strangeness of the situation

"Oh", "It was the wrong bird"

Short paragraphs and short sentences show the shock and creates suspense

'another thump. And another. Thump'

Repetitive onomatopoeia builds up tension and anticipation

'The last few seconds before a battle'

Hyperbolic metaphor, represents her anticipation and rising tension

Foreshadowin

'Don't want you going home with the wrong bird' foreshadows plot twist

'she is hanging head-downward, wings open, like a turkey in a butcher shop'

Simile compares hawk to turkey, shows her sympathy for it and its vulnerability

'She is a conjuring trick. A reptile. A fallen angel. A griffon from the pages of an illuminated bestiary'

Short sentences shows how mythical the bird seems in the moment of chaos

'an alien brain fizzing and fuzing with terror'

fricative alliteration highlight birds otherness and exoticness, builds up tension

'All at once I loved this man, and fiercely'

Shows how much she has sympathy for the hawk as she loves him for his care and tenderness for the hawk