A Line by Line Analysis of the Poem Eagle by Tennyson Plus a Sinhala Translation of the same plus a Video


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A Line by Line Analysis of the Poem Eagle by Tennyson Plus a Sinhala Translation of the same plus a Video


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. 

 

 An Analysis of the Poem:

This poem reminds me about a recent incident where a group of men in our country had skinned an eagle alive and even posted the gory picture of the same in the facebook. The shocked public wanted the police to arrest the culprits which they did and later they were produced before the court and were punished.

The poem Eagle by Tennyson is an amazingly powerful poem although it consists of just two stanzas. The poem is about a lone eagle perched atop a steep rock in the sea.

Eagles are large, powerful birds of prey. They have large, hooked beaks and have excellent eyesight. They also have powerful talons which help them catch prey. Eagles build their nests on high cliffs or in tall trees. There are over 60 different species of eagle in the world.

The poem consists of two stanzas, each consisting of three rhyming lines of iambic pentameter. This type of three rhyming lines is called triplets (couplets being more common).

In the first stanza, the poet describes the bird who is perched high up in rock with a sense of admiration. The bird holds tightly to the rock with his iron like talons and stands still against the gusty wind that sweeps against him.  He appears close to the sun than to the earth due to the majestic height of his position. He is circled by the blue sky.

In the second stanza the poet describes the sea as it appears to the bird. The huge rolling waves of the sea are reduced to wrinkles from that great height. In the last line the bird ‘falls’ like a thunderbolt to the sea below in an awesome climax.

Now let’s look at the poem more closely and analyse it line-by-line as usual.

The poem begins with a superb close-up.

He clasps the crag with crooked hands; 

Just like our previous poem (A Bird came down the Walk), the poet tries to humanize the bird using the words “he” and “hands”. Even the verb “clasps” has connotations of warmth and friendship as when we shake hands with others. However, here it refers to the tenacious grip of the bird in his effort to balance himself on the rock which is exposed to the unrelenting blasts of wind. “Crooked” means ugly and deformed and it creates an unpleasant picture in our minds. The harsh alliteration of “cr” sound heightens that effect.

The second line associates the bird with the realm of the sky:

Close to the sun in lonely lands, 

Suddenly, the close-up changes into a long shot like in a film. Now we see the bird against the sky, at a superior height. The phrase ‘lonely lands’ seems to suggest the eagle’s domination of the sky. The prominent assonance of the “o” sound further accentuates the sense of loneliness and distance. The alliteration of “l” sounds contributes to the musical quality of the line.

The third line of the first stanza further describes the sky:

Ring'd with the azure world, he stands. 

The words “azure world” refers to the sky of the color of ocean blue. The bird is circled or “ring’d” by the blue sky. The passive action of “stands” which rhymes with “hands” and “lands” creates an effect of stillness or inertness. This is like a still shot in cinema. The caesura or the comma before “he” further heightens this stillness.

The second stanza begins with a bird’s eye-view of the sea which appears to be crawling beneath the towering cliff:

 The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; 

The waves of the sea look like wrinkles of a cloth or skin from that great height. The rolling of the waves is diminished to ‘crawling’. The word “crawls” also reminds us about the reptiles who are eaten by eagles. In addition the word “wrinkled” reminds us of an old person while “crawls” reminds us of a baby. Taken together, it might be suggestive of the life cycle of the humans or the nature.

The next line takes us back to the eagle who appears to be poised for action:

He watches from his mountain walls, 

It is not clear what he “watches” from that great height. Eagle is a bird with a sharp vision and he may be watching some prey (a fish for example) far below. The word also builds up some tension as it prepares him for action. The words “mountain walls” suggest the sharp incline of the rock and its inaccessibility.

The last line brings the poem to a superb climax:

And like a thunderbolt he falls. 

Finally, the eagle dives of the cliff and swoops downward in a straight line in a graceful movement. It is an effortless action which depends on the gravitational acceleration. The word ‘thunderbolt’ suggests the speed with which a thunderbolt strikes and thus the swiftness of the eagle. It also suggests Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning and storms in the Norse mythology. The bird may be diving at its prey which has very little chance of escape given the lightening speed at which bird descends on him.

It is notoriously difficult to pin point the themes of this poem as it lends itself to multifarious meanings. However, one of the themes may be the superiority of animals over man who prides himself as the most intelligent being on the earth. It might also carry themes such as freedom, fate, power of nature etc.

Alfred Lord Tennyson is considered to be the greatest of the Victorian poets and he is well known for the craftsmanship in poetry. His greatest poem is In Memoriam which was dedicated to his friend Arthur Hallam whose death left the poet heartbroken.

 Translation of the Poem Eagle by Tennyson (Prescribed for G.C.E. O/L English Literature)

රාජාලියා

බදමින් උසැති ගිරිකුල ගොරහැඩි දෑතින් 
අසලින් තෙදැති හිරු මඩලද පාලු බිමින් 
නිසලව සිටී ඔහු වටකර නිල් ගුවනින්


රැලි වැටුණු සිඳු ඈත බඩගාන ලෙස පෙනෙත 
කඳු පවුර මත සිටින උකුසු නෙත යොමු කරත 
සැන අකුණු පහර ලෙස ගොදුර වෙත ඔහු පතිත


Translated by R.C. Fernando. (Copyright)


Original Poem

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.