The Eagle Group at eNotes

There is much in the poem to indicate that the animal in the poem can be...

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:42:32 PST

There is much in the poem to indicate that the animal in the poem can be seen as a metaphor for the human experience. One element that depicts the human predicament is the idea that the eagle is both an active part of the world and simultaneously detached from it. In the first stanza, the eagle is apart from the world, observing it and clinically surveying it. This can be contrasted in the second stanza, when it actively engages within...

Tennyson's poem is not a description of the eagle in its natural...

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:10:53 PST

Tennyson's poem is not a description of the eagle in its natural environment, but a broader reflection of the human experience. Explain.

Tennyson's poem is a very interesting study in the natural world and...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:31:01 PST

Tennyson's poem is a very interesting study in the natural world and those creatures who inhabit it. The opening two lines establish the exposition of an eagle set atop a high mountain. The third line indicates a sense of permanence that the eagle represents in a world of transition and change. The implication is that the eagle stands alone, above all and purveying all that changes while it remains constant. This idea continues in the...

What does the poem of "The Eagle" mean?

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:21:24 PST

What does the poem of "The Eagle" mean?

I also explain metaphor as the transfer of qualities from one thing to...

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:57:46 PST

I also explain metaphor as the transfer of qualities from one thing to another. For instance, in the sentence, "The football players thundered from the tunnel onto the field." The players do not actually thunder, but the noise that they create, either with their mouths or their cleats on the tunnel floor, sounds like and therefore takes on the qualities of thunder.

Metaphor-Is used for comparing 2 things

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:41:25 PST

Metaphor-Is used for comparing 2 things

A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using a word such as like...

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:25:06 PST

A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using a word such as like or as to compare the two things. The fence posts stood like sentries between the two empty fields of grass. The fence posts are not sentries. They simply hold the strands of barbed wire. Sentries are guards that usually watch gates of military installations. These two unlike things are tied together with the word "like". The next comparison is a metaphor. Poets and...

How does simile differ from metaphor (with short examples)?

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:03:01 PST

How does simile differ from metaphor (with short examples)?

cburr, I wish you had taught me "call the dog" about twenty-five years...

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:11:06 PST

cburr, I wish you had taught me "call the dog" about twenty-five years ago! What a great teaching technique! Would have saved me--and my students--a lot of work. One thing we did do, although I think "call the dog" is more effective, is "play the drum." We would read (chant) lines of poetry aloud for practice, and play the drum to find the rhythm of the strong beats. Their drums, of course, were their desk tops. They loved this activity, as...

The advice given in the previous posts is excellent. I just want to...

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:58:33 PST

The advice given in the previous posts is excellent. I just want to add that, many native speakers (including some English teachers themselves) have difficulty distinguishing between stressed and unstressed syllables. It may take a little time to get the hang of it, but if you follow the the excellent advice that was posted, you should do fine.

One trick that is often useful in teaching dyslexic children to read...

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:22:34 PST

One trick that is often useful in teaching dyslexic children to read multi-syllabic words with stress on the right syllables is to "call the dog". I realize that this may work only if you have grown up in an English-speaking environment. However, if you call out a word as if you were calling a dog's name, you naturally put the stress in the right place. Con - sti - TU - tion is an example. I hope this is of some help.

Identifying the stressed and unstressed syllables in an English-language...

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:20:25 PST

Identifying the stressed and unstressed syllables in an English-language poem is for the most part a matter of following the pattern of the metrical feet. As parkerlee points out, "The Eagle" is iambic tetrameter. This means that there are four feet per line ("tetra" means "four"), and each foot contains an iamb (two syllables, first unstressed, second stressed). Knowing this pattern will help you to diagram the feet line by line.

To find stressed and unstressed syllables, you have to listen carefully...

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:03:25 PST

To find stressed and unstressed syllables, you have to listen carefully to yourself as you read the verses, preferably aloud. Which syllables, not words, do you emphasize? For instance, consider a name. Say the name is Frankie. Do you pronounce it FRAN- kie or fran- KIE? Or look at another word like eagle; do you say EA-gle or ea-GLE? The goal is to read a line as normally as possible. Being a student that might not speak English...

Listening to poetry with metered verse and music with lyrics (other than...

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:56:22 PST

Listening to poetry with metered verse and music with lyrics (other than rap, which often accentuates the wrong syllable) would probably help. Only significant exposure to a language will help your ear "tune in" to correct stress, intonation and cadence. You might enjoy reading two books by the famous orthophonist Alfred Tomatis. I read them in French so am not sure about their titles in English, but translated literally they are The Ear and...

I am not an English speaking student, so what way would help me to find...

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:33:19 PST

I am not an English speaking student, so what way would help me to find the stressed and unstessed syllables?

I, too, noticed the change. My daughter and I are Tennyson fans. I...

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:54:04 PST

I, too, noticed the change. My daughter and I are Tennyson fans. I am holding in my hands right now the 1873 version which shows 2 changes that were made. This version shows hooked hands (which that would be alliteration in itself with the two h sounds...not needing to change to the c sound). The second change is in the second stanza where this version shows "Ring'd" as opposed to its current listing as ringed. I am still trying to...

This is an interesting question. I did not know that there was an...

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:13:28 PST

This is an interesting question. I did not know that there was an alternative version of this poem. The change was probably made for alliteration's sake--to continue the hard "c" sound in the first line. I did some searching and discovered that the "hooked hands" version appears in "The Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations," compiled by J. K. Hoyt, in 1896. It is also in "A New Library of Poetry and Song," edited by W. C. Bryan in 1876. It...

I have an old copy of the poem "The Eagle." Does anyone know when the...

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:26:19 PST

I have an old copy of the poem "The Eagle." Does anyone know when the change was made from "hooked hands" to "crooked hands"?

Paraphrasing is when you put the poem into your own wordsEg:"He...

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 10:55:32 PST

Paraphrasing is when you put the poem into your own wordsEg:"He clasps the crag with crooked hands" Could be Paraphrased intoThe eagle stands on high grabbing the mountain rock with it's claws etc.I hope this helped ..Nicola :L

What is paraphrase about The Eagle by Lord Tennyson?

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:33:28 PST

What is paraphrase about The Eagle by Lord Tennyson?