The Eagle by Alfred Lord Tennyson

 



The Eagle

BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

 

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.


Paraphrase of the Poem, The Eagle


The eagle handgrips with his twisted hands, the tor which is very high, reaching close to the sun and a very lonely place which is beyond the reach of none. And thus the eagle stands on the tor and appears surrounded by the azure sky. 
Below this high rock, the mighty ocean full of wrinkles on the face appears crawling before the mountain wall on which the Eagle stands. The kingly eagle watches everything below in the sea and on the right time, falls like a thunderbolt.  

Explanation and Analysis of the poem 'The Eagle'


"The Eagle" by Alfred Lord Tennyson captures the majestic power, freedom and indomitable spirit of the Eagle, the king of birds in a mere six lines. Through vivid imagery and concise language, Tennyson transports readers to the heights of a rugged cliff where the Eagle stands holding the tor with his crooked hands (claws) , The depicts him so mighty and kingly that the vast and mighty ocean appears to be old and wrinkled (the waves of the ocean look like wrinkles) before his dominance below the high rock where he is seen standing on the rock surrounded by the blue sky. The mighty and kingly Eagle watches every activity below. Nothing can go unnoticed by him. He shows his dominance over the old and wrinkled sea by falling into the ocean (upon his prey probably a fish) like a thunderbolt from the sky.

The Literary Devices Used in the Poem


There are several imageries used in the poem. Every line of the poem displays an imagery. The first lines presents the imagery of how he grasps the tor with his crooked hands (claws). The second line presents the imagery of a very high (close to the sun) and lonely place where he lives. The third imagery in the third line shows him beautifully surrounded by the blue sky. The fourth imagery in the fourth line presents the view of ocean below his mountain wall. In this imagery, the other wise vast and mighty ocean is seen like an old and wrinkled man who is so powerless before  the majestic and mighty Eagle that he crawls on his knees and cannot stand before the Eagle. The fifth imagery shows him on the rock of his mountain wall. From such a great height, he watches every activity below. It makes a show of his power of surveillance that nothing can go unnoticed by him. The last imagery in the last line resonates his powerful unerring attack like the fall of thunderbolt. This imagery pictures him how he pounces upon his prey. (most probably a fish) 
Besides imagery the poem contains alliteration of sound /k/ resonating in line one to the beginning of the line 2. Then sounds /l/ and /n/ in line 2. The third line creates music with rhythm. The poem has a simple rhyming scheme, AAA BBB. The fourth line contains a transferred epithet. The qualities of an old man ( wrinkles ) are transferred to the ocean. On the other hand, 'crawls' depicts the ocean so powerless than he (the ocean) is on all fours like a baby crawls. The fifth line has a metaphor 'mountain wall' The last line contains a simile. The attack of the eagle is compared to the fall of thunderbolt. 
The poem personifies the Eagle like a king with majestic power freedom and having dominance over a territory. The author uses pronoun 'He' for the Eagle instead of 'it'. The eagle is a symbol of might, freedom and dominance while the ocean here is a symbol of surrender, old age and weakness.
 



Location: Satna, Madhya Pradesh, India

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