The Eagle

Lord Alfred Tennyson

(1809-1892)

Life

Tennyson was born on 6th August 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire. The fourth of twelve children.He was the son of a clergyman. Rev. George Clayton Tennyson.

Alfred with his wife

Emily (1813-1896)

his son Hallam (1852-1928)

and Lionel (1854-

1886).

Farringford- Lord Tennyson's residence on the Isle of Wight

He is the second most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford dictionary of Quotations after Shakespeare.

• "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all”

• "Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die”

• "My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure”

• "Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers”

• "The old order changeth, yielding place to new".

The Eagle

The Eagle

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.

Alliteration

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

The hard consonant /k/ in the three words.

Could it suggest hardness of the rock and firmness of the bird?

Symbols

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Close to the sun - This could illustrate the status of a person.

In lonely lands – This could point out how lonely someone can be in this position.

Personification

He clasps the crag with crooked hands 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.

azure – a deep blue sky blue colour

Simile

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls.

What is the effect of the simile?

The Eagle

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.

Adjectives

Tennyson used the pairing of two-syllable adjectives with one-syllable nouns to help keep the meter of the poem intact.

“crooked hands,” “lonely lands,” “azure world,” “wrinkled sea,” “mountain walls.”

Syllables

He used no word longer than two syllables until the last line.

Thunderbolt 3 syllables

It conveys power which any eagle certainly has.

Compare this poem to Ted Hughes’s “Hawk Roosting.” Why do you think both birds are portrayed with such nobility? Which poem do you think contradicts that noble appearance most? How?

This poem has references to the ancient Greek myth of Icarus.

Study that story, and explain how you think knowing it helps a reader interpret what Tennyson is saying here.

Carol Wolff