Eagle: Fragment

Metaphor and metonymy are two of the best devices poets usually utilize to deliver their messages. Imagery, the art of language, uses carefully selected words to recreate the experience of all five senses. This method is mostly used in portraying natural objects, or landscape. Alfred Tennyson is one poet who successfully utilizes this device in his works. A typical example is the poem “The Eagle: Fragment”, in which he portrayed an eagle crowning on his throne-the crag in its “azure world”. At the first glance at the title, readers may grow some curiousness about the word “fragment”, which will explain itself after they read the poem.

The poem is constructed with two stanzas. The first stanza depicts the eagle, powerful and almighty, proudly crown on the crag as if it is his throne.
“He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.”
Tennyson was creative in selecting his words to utilize alliteration which effectively draw up a clear picture of the eagle. “Clasp”, “crag”, “crooked”, strong and hard words can be associated with the eagle’s age. The tenor sound of the letter “c” brings forth a strong, masculine voice. With a bit of imagination, readers can picture the eagle with an old, experienced and age-weathered face, which is perfectly suited for his status: a king of his own world, the “azure world”, which is “close to the sun in lonely lands”. The sun is often used as a royal symbol in many cultures, which in this case, was used to consolidate the eagle’s absolute power over his lands. The eagle is rather small compared to this vast landscape, but he still stands there, majestically, next to the absolute power-The Sun. The words “lonely” and “ringed” were used in purpose to even more strengthen the eagle’s power: He is, the one and only, ruler of this land; and they are so closely tied as if they are one. The last sentence of the first stanza depicts a heroic picture, where “he stands”,... [continues]

Read full essay