The Eagle - A poem by Alfred Tennyson

    

      I was reading the poems written by Alfred Tennyson and I found “The Eagle” which I have studied in my graduation. I am sharing my interpretation here.

The Eagle

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.

         Alfred Tennyson was the major poet of Victorian age, For more information about poet click here. He has written many beautiful poems, The Eagle is one of them.

          In this poem he has elaborated the qualities of an eagle or we can say he has personified the bird. In the very first stanza we could find the glimpse of it by “He clasps the crag with crooked hands” in which he used the word “hands”. Eagle is the only bird which is not afraid of rain because he can fly above the clouds. The poet has presented the solitude of a bird that it is very close to the sun but the word “lonely lands” gives it a pessimistic tone that the sky where eagle is flying, no one can reach there and accompany it. The bird is at high place but it is also all alone. The word “Ring’d” suggests that the bird is at the centre of the azure world. The word ‘azure’ may suggests the sky and ocean and when we look towards the ocean, sometimes it seems that both meets at a particular space and when eagle flies there it seems it is the centre of the world.

          The second stanza again shows the superiority of a bird, that the large sea and its waves seems to him as if it is wrinkled face and the word “beneath him crawls” shows that the force of waves and strength is like crawling for eagle. Mountains are like walls of his house and he is on such height that when it falls for pray, its like thunderbolt on earth.

          The literal translation could be only about the bird but if we minutely observe the words of poem it seems like poet is describing human beings who has the level of spirituality, on the other point we could say that by using ‘He’, ‘him’ and ‘his’ the poet supports masculinity. Tennyson has inspired to write this poem when he saw eagles during his travel. He personifies the bird and described his solitude and greatness but the one word “lonely lands” creates a large paradox in the poem.

      It matters a lot that you reached at the greatest heights in this world. But what if you are alone there?

       The eagle has to come down on earth for food if he wants to survive. One can only survive in this world if the person can balance between position and politeness.