The Eagle

The Eagle
~ Lord Tennyson

Alfred Lord Tennyson was the greatest poet of the Victorian age. He believed in God and moral values. He was born on 6 August, 1809 in England.

Tennyson stood as mouth-piece or the Voice of the Victorian age. He wrote two kinds of poetry : Subjective & Objective.

According to W.J.Long, 

"Tennyson was not only a man and a poet. He was a voice, the voice of the people expressing their doubts and faith in melodious language."

About Poem:

The poem consists only six lines and divided into two stanzas. The first description is about an Eagle sitting on a mountain, while digging its talons into rock.

The Eagle, a bird of prey, of strength, size, gracefulness, keen vision and power of flight, pictured as lonely the world also known for his power &strength seems rather small against its surroundings.
Although the Eagle is alone and small against nature, its majestic Image is maintained by the placement at great hight or as a poem states, "Close to the sun."

Analysis of the poem:

At the beginning of the poem, as the Eagle perches on a high cliff waiting for his prey. When Eagle saw a sea from high distance, waves of sea appears likes wrinkles. Here, Wrinkles uses as adjective to describe the lost stage of life.The Eagle, at its great hight is representation of a Man. 

Mountain represents the Universe similar to Eagle's smallness as compared to the mountain, man is also small as compared to Universe. The man is lonely in the universe because he must entre and live alone in the world.

Eagle is representative of human begin.
Man wants to get more and more beyond his capicity. Man depends on his destiny.
Both, Eagle and Man are encircled by their world and must stand or endure. The sea delineates life and death. The Thunderbolt signifies death because death is also like a thunderbolt which suddenly come & gone. 

A thunderbolt is loud and disappears just as quickly as it appears. Water below the cliff maintains that idea aa the Eagle falls in. In addition the last word of the stanza 'Stand' ans 'Falls' are opposite to eachother in defination.