Formalistic Criticism of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Eagle"

The poem is full of figurative language such as personification and alliteration in the first line. The eagle is addressed as “he” which means that the eagle is comparable to humans. The words clasps, crag, and crooked are alliteration, which made the concept of an eagle more interesting. The poet indirectly described the ability of an eagle- that it can hold on tightly to a rugged cliff.

In the second line, it stated there that the eagle is close to the sun, which is a hyperbole statement because an eagle can't get closer to the sun. Otherwise, the eagle will die. However, this symbolizes that an eagle can soar faster and fly higher than any other bird.  Also, alliteration is shown after the hyperbole- “lonely lands”, which means that the eagle can travel to places where there is nothing there but only the land and the eagle.

In the third line, there’s the presence of visual imagery by the words ring’d and azure world. Ring’d mean wearing a ring or engagement, which symbolizes having authority over something or someone while azure means the blue color in a clear daytime sky. That being said, the eagle owns the blue sky, or simply the sky. Besides, it was also supported by the next two words “he stands” which interpreted as an eagle ruled the sky.

In the fourth line, there is also the presence of imagery- of a “wrinkled sea” which means the waves of the sea, the following is the description of the sea- beneath him crawls. This line tells that the eagle is terrified of the sea.

In the fifth line, there is a metaphor- mountain walls. This means that the eagle is watching the view from the top of the mountains where he hides. A wall symbolizes something that protects the people, and so the poet uses “mountain walls” to emphasize that the mountain is the thing that protects him-the eagle.

The final line has a simile- like a thunderbolt. Thunderbolt has imagery of being fast or quick. By that, this line means that after the eagle watched from the mountain, he flew down at a super-speed as he falls. 

The poem is divided into two stanzas with 3 lines each. The rhyme scheme is triplet for both stanzas which it often repeats like a couplet, uses a rhyme scheme of “AAA.”

The use of an eagle, it describes the beauty of nature. In every place that the eagle had traveled, it has a different view and treated it differently, regardless of the different beauty that our nature had offered, all of it looks wonderful. This just highlighted the subject of individuality- is what makes the world so beautiful.