THE EAGLE A POEM BY TENNYSON

 

                          THE EAGLE

                        A POEM BY TENNYSON

Whereas the English poet Alfred Tennyson (1809—1892) is known for his longest poem “In Memoriam“  which he completed in 17 years, from 1833 to 1850, grieving at the death of his very intimate friend Arthur Henry Hallam, he is also famous for his shortest two –stanzas of three  lines each poem “The Eagle”. According to literary critics in this short poem Tennyson uses artistic devices like personification , imagery and simile to render the  eagle  more than a mere bird.

 

                Dictionaries define the eagle as a bird of prey with keen sight. Dr, Roland DeRenzo says eagles fly alone at high altitude; have vision, are tenacious and never surrender to the size or strength of its prey. Urdu-Persian poet philosopher  Dr. Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) uses the word “Shahin” for Eagle and presents him as a symbol of loftiness of ideas, bravery  and upward spiritual flight.

                   The text of  Tennyson’s “The Eagle” reads as follows:

 

“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 the mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.”

 

Tennyson’s eagle symbolizes freedom, power, enlightenment and fortitude. It is a model of fearless onward movement for humans.

 

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G.R.Kanwal

11^th July 2023