The Eagle

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1851

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

Like the eagle, the form and meter are deliberate elements. There are two three-line stanzas, or tercets, and each line features iambic tetrameter, so there are four beats—four pairs of stressed, unstressed syllables. Line 1 reads, unstressed “[h]e,” stressed “clasps,” unstressed “the,” stressed “crag,” unstressed “with,” stressed “crook,” unstressed “ed,” and then stressed “hands.” This meter creates a pulsating rhythm that advances the themes of power and force. It’s like the eagle is marching in an army of one. The two distinct stanzas spotlight the paradoxical interpretations of the poem. The stanza breaks create a gap, and the reader can fill that void with drastically different perceptions—i.e., the eagle represents power, or he symbolizes precarity.

The AAA BBB rhyme scheme contributes to the stringency of the poem. In each respective stanza, the rhymes stay the same. They’re unmovable, just like the eagle, up until the end. The rigid form and meter make the eagle’s fall dramatic. The form and meter contain the eagle until the last word when the eagle leaves the poem to attack or because he suffered an attack.

Alliteration

The literary device of alliteration puts words together that share the same first letter or a similar sound. Lines 1-5 contain instances of alliteration, and the mellifluous sound serves the grace and fluidity of the bird. The eagle has no trouble moving around and marking his territory on “his mountain walls” (Line 5). As the lines unfold, the alliteration varies—indicating that the eagle has vulnerabilities.

The alliteration begins strong, with “clasps,” “crag,” and “crooked” in Line 1. In Line 2, “lonely lands” and possibly “close” and “sun,” as these words don’t make a drastically different sound than the first syllable in “lonely.” “[A]zure world” comprises the alliteration in Line 3, and “wrinkled sea beneath” demonstrates alliteration in Line 4. There’s “[h]e,” “his,” “watches” and walls” in Line 5, but there’s no alliteration in Line 6. The absence of alliteration interrupts the smooth flow of the eagle. Unsettled, the eagle “falls” (Line 6). The “thunderbolt” arrives, disrupts the purposeful melody made by alliteration, and it disrupts the eagle’s environment. It forces the eagle into action. Whatever the eagle does, with the alliteration gone, he can’t stick around the mountain.

Symbolism

Symbolism is a literary device where the poet uses figures, things, people, or creatures to represent a complex idea. Instead of trying to unpack the intricate theme directly, the poet tackles the tangled concept through symbols. Tennyson makes it possible to argue the eagle symbolizes human power, as the speaker talks about the eagle as if he’s human. He assigns him a gender, hands, and feet—“he stands” (Line 3). The speaker also supplies the eagle with interiority and subjectivity when he “watches from the mountain walls” (Line 5) like a deep thinker or a contemplative person. This use of anthropomorphism suggests Tennyson might be confronting the might of humans and the empires they build.

Conversely, Tennyson could be confronting the weakness of people and the instability of their kingdoms. The stealthy symbolism of the crawling “wrinkled sea” (Line 4), and the vengeful godliness represented by the “thunderbolt” (Line 6) add to the odious, predatory environment. The eagle has enemies. There's tension in the poem and conflicts the eagle can't win. He "falls" (Line 6) because he's not indomitable.

The literary device of symbolism can also seem redundant. The eagle doesn’t represent strength, power, or in the opposite, frailty—the eagle is these things already. The eagle is a predatory bird, but it’s also a living creature vulnerable to its changing surroundings. All living things must meet their demise sooner or later, so the eagle "falls" (Line 6).