The Eagle

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.

This is a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I came across it today while browsing through one of the literary books in my shelf. I remember falling in love with this poem when I first read it in high school.

I always experience a number of impressions whenever I read this poem. But the most prominent is the eagle's dominating presence which is almost fearful. He's saying, "Yeah! I'm the big boss here!".

Although the poem ends with no specific detail to explain the eagle’s final act and the author simply likens the motion of the bird to a thunderbolt. I believe that there is a strong connotation to the eagle's majestic and proud nature. I envision the bird swooping down to its prey with focus, agility and natural force. It is in harmony with nature and his fall is expressed in terms of gravity to show how the eagle has become nature itself.