The Eagle By Lord Tennyson Analysis

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Izabela Glajcar Oct. 20, 2014 Critical appreciation of “The Eagle” by Lord Tennyson Lord Tennyson was a romantic poet who prized the beauty and influence of nature. His poem, 'The Eagle' is a solid instance of this belief. The poem uses many cases of typical diction, all with the intention of producing a splendid description of an eagle. In this way, Tennyson reveals how man needs to relate to his human heart through the appreciation and adoration of nature. The poem was inspired by Lord Tennyson’s exploration of the Pyrenees in France. He expresses his admiration for the living world and perfectly encapsulates it in just a few lines full of sound and meaning. This essay will show how the author has accomplished that. The first…show more content…
Lord Tennyson portrays the eagle as a strong and mighty, masculine creature. The author omits the word ‘eagle’ to give this animal supernatural qualities. The bird holds on to a sharp crag with no effort at all. It comes naturally to him. His claws might be crooked, but they resemble hands of an experienced and old but still a very capable man. That’s a place that humans cannot dare. The eagle is out of reach, all by himself and ‘close to the sun’ and surrounded by the azure sky. He stands on his perch that seems to be in the centre of the world and above everything. He stands there, god-like and watches the world beneath. By using the word “stands" the author applies another projection of human qualities onto this robust bird. The eagle looks down on the world from his privileged position. He resembles a commander and the world around him seems to wait in silence, nearly motionless, in a gesture of surrender and anticipating his…show more content…
It is dynamic through the sea that surrounds him and stirs vigorously creating waves, however they are so far that eagle regards them as slow, crawling creatures. He looks around from ‘his mountain walls’. He knows they belong to him as nobody has ever claimed them. It is his territory. In the last line, the author compares the eagle to a thunderbolt. In a splendid show of grace and speed he dives like a lightning, however strikes the earth like a thunderbolt that trembles the world. This comparison is used to show again the influence of eagle over the world. The speaker could be the narrator of a nature documentary. He watches the eagle from a great distance however describes him with a detail impossible to see from a reader’s perspective. He builds up the drama with anticipation and uses a spectrum of similes to feed reader’s imagination. He is a master of a dramatic pause. The selection of words, such as ‘crag’, ‘azure’ and ‘thunderbolt’, not only corresponds with the meaning of the poem but also adapts musical sensibility which gives the poem its discreet

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