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Lyric Poem · Nature

The Eagle

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1851

1He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

2Close to the sun in lonely lands,

3Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

4The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

5He watches from his mountain walls,

6And like a thunderbolt he falls.

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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).
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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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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