Grade 10 English Literature: The Eagle

Dear Children, Today we start exploring the lessons in your textbook. And make them simple to you to understand each lesson better. So we start with the poem, The Eagle by Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson - (1809 -1892) "He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ringed with the azure world, he stands. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls" “The Eagle” is one of the shortest bird poems ever written in the history of English literature. Before starting to explain things, this is a bird that we must talk of, as the heading is " The Eagle".

 

The eagle is a predatory bird which fundamentally symbolizes power as it is one of the animal associates of the Greek god Zeus. Furthermore, the eagle functions as man’s connection to the divine because of the aforesaid connection, and of its ability to fly to extreme heights. The bird further functions as a symbol of justice; therefore, it is necessary to Carefully annotate the poem to discover its figurative ideas. So read this poem carefully to find out whether the poet simply attempts to paint a picture of an eagle in the reader’s mind or to convey something metaphorical. - About the poet Lord tennyson was a poet of Great Britain and Ireland during the time of Queen Victoria. Tennyson always wrote short lyrics. He wrote some dramas as well. He was from a middle class family with a royal background. His father was a priest and a man with superior talents. He was born in England in 1809 and died in 1892. 

 

Description of the poem The Eagle is a poem that describes an eagle on a high mountain looking for a prey. To add more details about this bird as i told you earlier eagle is an unusual large bird with a sharp eyesite, speed and strength. It can aim to its pray from great distances. In this poem the poet describes all these behavior patterns of the bird. This is a nature poem and is discussed about a facinating incident of nature. In the first lines the poet describes the physical body of this eagle. He uses so many techniques like personification, visual imageries and alliterations as we have described them in our first lesson. These words gives us a sharp level picture of the eagle. It has supreme powers like a dictator. It stands on a big rock against the blue sky. It shows it is similar to a king of much more power. No one is around it. And it is the only creature that the poet can see. In the second stanza, the poet clearly describes the background of the picture. Here we can imagine how the vast sea crawls beneath the rocks and how the large eagle is searching for it's prey. Here the eagle shows the Authority of man similar to Earth. The bird is a image of a modern dictator.

 

Here the poet talks about a powerful human, with much power. In the last line the bird suddenly goes for it's prey. Here the poet uses a simile to show how quick this bird is. In this poem the poet presents a vivid picture of a lonely coastal atmosphere surrounded by huge rocks. The sky maybe cloudless, blue and it maybe a bright day. This poem has so many visual imageries of the environment. The reader can admire the sea and imagine a very clear picture of the sea and using the line " close to the sun", "Azure world" suggest how distant the location is and the mountain taken metaphorically as it's home. And it is a natural incident that we can see rarely.

 

In this poem the poet uses a set of verbs to show the immediate and urgency. Some of these words are "falls", "crawls", "watches" and "stands". The poet uses long consenence in some lines to echo the meaning. So dear children the meaning of this short poem can be defined as of that the eagle is a symbol of powerful people who are with us and around us and how they control the people around him like a powerfull eagle spreads its power around. We hope you will read the description well and understand the poem. We will be giving you some questions and answers that might come for your exam in our next lesson. So stay home, stay safe and continue joing our lessons and maximizing your knowledge in English Literature.

 

 

 

 

 

by Kaushalya De Silva

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