The Eagle

The eagle is the active figure in the poem and seems to possess the power of choice in addition to an implied power to destroy. In these ways, the eagle may be said to be presented as a symbol of...

Tennyson uses lush and vivid language to powerfully communicate the image of the eagle clutching the crag in its "crooked hands" far above the "wrinkled sea" that "crawls." The choice of words,...

Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Eagle” uses imagery to portray the king of the skies: the eagle. Tennyson traveled in the Pyrenees where he often saw eagles circling overhead. The beauty of the...

"The Eagle" is a short, six-line poem that is rich with descriptive imagery of the natural world. This poem provides a vivid image of a proud eagle atop a mountain and, ultimately, the eagle's...

One of the prominent themes in this poem is that even the most majestic of creatures (including people) have limitations. In poetry and literature, the eagle is often a symbol for majesty, power,...

"The Eagle" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is a short, six-line poem consisting of two stanzas. Both stanzas are three lines long. Each stanza uses a single rhyme sound, and thus, the rhyme scheme is aaa...

The critical consensus is that the eponymous eagle represents the figure of Arthur Henry Hallam, a young English poet and close friend of Tennyson. Hallam died young, and his untimely death...

"The wrinkled sea" could be a wonderfully imaginative description of the peaks and valleys formed by the waves below the eagle's viewpoint as the tide "crawls" in and out along the shoreline....

This is an interesting question. The poem is only six lines, and about half of those lines are dedicated to describing the eagle. On one hand, you could make a claim that the eagle is part of the...

Although there has been some discussion over the years as to the meaning of the last line of the poem, the most common interpretation is that the eagle does indeed die, a victim of old age and...

This short little poem is loaded with literary devices that connect to the overall intention of the poem which is to present the majesty of an eagle. Here are few of note: the claws of the eagle...

Individual readers are going to interpret this line differently. For me personally, no, I do not think "the wrinkled sea beneath him crawls" shows the eagle's pride. On one hand, the line is very...

The poem "The Eagle" by Alfred Lord Tennyson is often admired as much as the majestic bird itself. From the very beginning in the first line "He clasps the crag with crooked hands" readers see...

The expression "crooked hands" is significant. Tennyson uses it when we might expect him to use "claws" or "feet" instead. What he's doing here is emphasizing certain characteristics of the eagle...

Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Eagle" gives very specific qualities to the main subject of the poem: the eagle. Within each line, one can identify specific traits the eagle possesses. "He crasps the...

Let's look at this short poem of only six lines: 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...

The goal of paraphrase is to put the words of a text into one's own words, and, in paraphrasing poetry, we also try to make literal whatever is originally figurative; this means, then, that it is...

In this brief poem, "crooked hands" is being used to describe an eagle's crooked claws. The eagle, often described as a noble and regal creature, is old and decrepit. The eagle still sits high on a...

The master of the skies! “The Eagle” has no equal in his domain. Alfred Lord Tennyson portrays this magnificent bird of prey with its great vision, powers of flight, and powerful talons. Tennyson...

I do agree that "The Eagle" isn't mere description. It if were, it is unlikely that we would care very much about reading it, especially nearly two hundred years after it was written. The point of...

In the first line, the speaker describes the eagle standing on a rock. The rock is a crag which is an uneven rock. His "hands" are crooked. The repetition of the "c" sound signifies the tough life...

In line 3, when the narrator describes the eagle as "ring'd with the azure world," he means that the eagle is surrounded with or encircled by the bluest of blue skies: azure is the name of this...

No, the poem isn't just about a bird; we can also interpret it as a comment on absolute power and the effects of such power on humans. Personifying the eagle as having "crooked hands," gives us a...

One reason that the eagle is referred to as a "he" instead of as an "it" is that the gendered pronoun is a clue that the poem is not necessarily just about an eagle. If you read the poem and think,...

The poem 'The Eagle' by the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson is written from the point of view of an observer as we can see by the lines 'He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely...

On one level, this poem could be read as an actual depiction of an eagle that employs some figurative language to achieve a more compelling and dramatic effect. On another level, this poem can be...

Along with Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Shelley and Keats, Alfred, Lord Tennyson is considered one of the premiere English Romantic poets. Romantic poetry often focused on nature. For example, one of...

These are all effective in creating images in the poem and in establishing physical point of view. He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ringed with the...

The first way in which these words work is by alliteration. The sequence ``clasps – crag - crooked – Close – crawls` repeats a harsh initial consonant, adding dramatic intensity to the poem and...

Not all poetry includes moral or ethical lessons. Sometimes, a poet is simply moved by an experience, an emotion, or a happening and feels as though the only way to capture it is to write it down...

Tennyson does not say anywhere in this very short poem who or what he is actually describing, except in the title. This is interesting because, without the title, the poem could easily be...

Alfred, Lord Tennyson is considered one of the greatest English Romantic poets of the 19th century. He held, for many years, the prestigious position of Poet Laureate of England. Like all Romantic...

This language to describe the sea is actually really interesting and creative. Think about what the sea looks like when you are standing on the shore: the waves have some amount of height (a few...

As the title indicates, this short poem is about an eagle. The eagle is depicted in nature, far from cities or human civilization. He seems to be at one with nature, for he clasps a crag high up a...

"The Eagle" is a poem by Tennyson consisting of two three-line stanzas. The meter of the poem is iambic tetrameter. The rhyme scheme is AAA BBB. The punctuation follows the normal conventions of...

I think the main Romantic trait in "The Eagle" is the way Tennyson's imagery is meant to evoke the sublime. Edmund Burke connected the sublime to strong emotional responses -- beholding the sublime...

The eagle is being compared to a thunderbolt in line six using a simile: "And like a thunderbolt he falls." In the first part of Tennyson's poem, we see the eagle perched high upon a...

That this is not just a description of an eagle in its natural environment is shown by Tennyson's personifying of the eagle: to personify an animal or thing is to give it human traits. This eagle...

In his short poem “The Eagle,” Alfred, Lord Tennyson skillfully portrays a solitary bird in its original wild environment. At the same time, he conveys a message about authenticity and boldness as...

The eponymous eagle doesn't do an awful lot on the mountain, which is no surprise when one considers how short the poem is. But Tennyson describes this magnificent bird of prey in such vivid terms...

In the first stanza of this poem, the eagle is personified as a king. He does not have claws, but hands, so we're to see him as a symbol of a person. He lives "close to the sun in lonely lands";...

First, the eagle is personified, described as having "hands," and this is a big clue that he represents more than just an eagle (line 1). In addition, the fact that his hands are described as...

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...

In "The Eagle," Tennyson provides a great deal of specific imagery to allow his reader to better visualize his subject. First, he states that the subject "clasps the crag with crooked hands." A...

Alfred, Lord Tennyson briefly but vividly describes the behavior of the titular bird in his poem "The Eagle." It is accurate to say that Tennyson's poem portrays both "the glory of nature" and...

Romantic literature tends to focus on the wonders of nature, the importance of the individual and his or her experiences, and intense emotion as a means of establishing truth. "The Eagle," by...

The speaker says that the eagle "clasps the crag with crooked hands" (line 1). The word clasps indicates how tightly the eagle clings to his leadership position; he seems tenacious, even...

"The Eagle" by Lord Alfred Tennyson is a short poem, consisting of two three-line stanzas. It is a purely descriptive poem written in the third person. The narrator is an impersonal voice...

The poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, likely describes the eagle as having "hands" rather than "claws" or "talons" because he wants to make it clear that the poem isn't just about an eagle. On the one...

In his poem "The Eagle," Tennyson paints a vivid portrait of this majestic bird. We can picture the eagle's talons grasping the side of a cliff, digging into the rock to solidify his position. He...