Poem Analysis : The Eagle by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Well, this one was my task in Poetry subject at my college ^^

The Eagle

 "The Eagle" was first published in 1851, around the time Tennyson was on his way to becoming the most famous British poet of his age. The poem is considered a perfect combination of sound and meaning.

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.

1.      Read the poem once quickly, three times slowly, aloud

2.      Write down the images, similes, metaphors which you find in the poem. Comment on each of them

3.      Read the poem again and figure out its meaning

Answer

The images :

-          The image that we can see are : Crags, lands,  sun, sea, mountain, and thunderbolt

-          Lonely land : means a land that really quit and it’s might be  no human in it

-          Azure world : azure means blue, so it means the earth that surrounded by blue skies

-          Crooked hands : The eagle has no “hand” but his foot can grab something like the hands, so the poet use “crooked hands” to illustrate the eagle’s foot

-          Mountain walls : The word “walls” here means the part of a mountain, but not the wall in literal way

-          Like a thunderbolt he falls : means the move of the eagle is really fast

The similes :

-          “And like a thunderbolt he falls” means the eagle move down really fast which the poet illustrated it’s as fast as thunderbolt

The metaphors :

-          “The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls” means the word “wrinkled” is usually used for human or animal’s skin, so using the word “wrinkled” for sea means that the sea is waving and the poet express that with the word “wrinkled”.  For the word “crawls”, the poet  want to express that the sea is moving slowly and he illustrate it with the word “crawl” which usually used for living things

-          “He clasps the crag with the crooked hands” means the eagle clasps the rocky area of a place with his foot, which the poet illustrated is as “crooked hands (tangannya yang bengkok)”. The eagle didn’t have the hands but the poet illustrate that the foot of the eagle is “the hand” that clasp the rocks.

The meaning of the poem :

The meaning of this poem is about the life of eagle in literal meaning or means exactly of what they say. The first line on the first stanza means the eagle stands and clasps the rocks with his foot. The situation is on a sunny day and the sky was blue. Then at the first line of second stanza, means that the sea is waving and moving slowly, and the eagle was near of it. I think the meaning is the eagle was watching carefully to catch a fish on the sea. He stands at the mountain and watch it. Then, when the fish came, he fly down to the sea really fast, which the poet illustrated it like a thunderbolt