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    A Study Guide for Lord Alfred Tennyson's "The Eagle"
    A Study Guide for Lord Alfred Tennyson's "The Eagle"
    A Study Guide for Lord Alfred Tennyson's "The Eagle"
    Ebook30 pages20 minutes

    A Study Guide for Lord Alfred Tennyson's "The Eagle"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Lord Alfred Tennyson's "The Eagle," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateAug 19, 2016
    ISBN9781535836333
    A Study Guide for Lord Alfred Tennyson's "The Eagle"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Lord Alfred Tennyson's "The Eagle" - Gale

      1

      The Eagle

      Alfred, Lord Tennyson

      1851

      Introduction

      The Eagle: A Fragment was first published in 1851, when it was added to the seventh edition of Tennyson’s Poems, which had itself been published first in 1842. As with the best of the poet’s works, this short poem displays a strong musical sense; the words chosen, such as crag, azure, and thunderbolt not only fit the meaning of the poem but also fit the slow musical sensibility which gives the poem its thoughtful, almost worshipful, tone.

      Since the title of the poem identifies it as a fragment, the reader may be led to wonder if it represents a completed work and a completed idea. This uncertainty is enhanced by the question of what actually happens to the eagle at the end of the poem: does he become ill, somehow lose his ability to fly, and tumble helplessly into the sea, or is the poet using the term he falls figuratively, to portray the quick action of a powerful bird diving to scoop up its prey? The poem is too short, and offers too little background for us to tell if the sudden reversal in the last line is meant to be ironic (the frailty of the mighty eagle) or if it continues to indicate the eagle’s harmony with his surroundings, so that his dive is phrased in terms of gravity. Because neither explanation seems more likely than the other, and we can assume that a powerful poet like Tennyson could have leaned his audience toward one interpretation if he had wanted to, it is fair to say that The Eagle: A Fragment is purposely constructed so that both interpretations apply.

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