The Eagle by Tennyson

       

         The Eagle  by Tennyson

Tennyson was born on 6^th  August 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire. The fourth of twelve children. He was the son of clergyman. Rev. George Clayton Tennyson. He is the second most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford dictionary of Quotations after Shakespeare.

•      "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all”

•       "There is not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die”

•      "My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure”

•      "Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers”

•      "The old order changes, yielding place to new".

The Eagle

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 his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Symbols

Close to the sun in lonely lands,  

       Close to the sun - This could illustrate the status of a person.

       In lonely lands – This could point out how lonely someone can be in this position.

This poem has references to the ancient Greek myth of Icarus. Study that story, and explain how you think knowing it helps a reader interpret what Tennyson is saying here.