Lyric Poem · Nature
The Eagle
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1851
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“The Eagle” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson — quilloak.com/poems/the-eagle
Quick facts
- Poem
- The Eagle
- Poet
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- Published
- 1851
- Length
- 6 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Short Poems
- Themes
- Nature, Short
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 6 lines · 2 tercets
- Line length
- Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson1809–1892
- Source record
- WikisourceThe Eagle by alfred-lord-tennyson, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1851
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 ebc640310fd65575…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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