Eagle Figurative Language
The Eagle a classic work of literature with a simplistic tone and theme being the analysis of an eagle prowling and taking flight. Figurative language such as "with crooked hands," "close to the sun," "the wrinkled sea beneath him crawls."
"He clasps the crag with crooked hands." Poems are riddled with figurative language, and The Eagle is no exception, personified objects and animals are the easiest way to relate to anybody. As if an eagle could have hands rather than the talons that birds are a custom to having. "Crooked hands." He's describing claws designed to grab fish and other smaller creatures but calls them hands to emphasize the dramatic and importance in the line.
“Close to the sun.” How close to the sun can you be? We’re billions
of miles away from the sun and being “close to the sun.” takes almost a cinematic angle, there are always those western movies that have some sort of bird hovering in the air below the sun. But an illusion looks like its right next to the sun. Also giving some importance to the eagle, earth revolves around the sun and if the eagle was literally close to the sun the earth would be miniscule in scale to the eagle.
”The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls.” The eagle looks down at the sea rippling and waving looking like wrinkles in a blanket. A vast opening of ocean “crawls” the waves slow in nature from high above they push and drag itself further like the ocean is crippled by old age but young to crawl fierce but slow. Once again using personification to describe the ocean as a timeless body crawling and searching for something.
This poem’s length and language drew me into it almost instantly easy to follow, but the personification and hypothetical uses of the lines made me think deeper into the poems meaning. That’s what I enjoy reading in a poem, deeper meaning and thought put into words.
"He clasps the crag with crooked hands." Poems are riddled with figurative language, and The Eagle is no exception, personified objects and animals are the easiest way to relate to anybody. As if an eagle could have hands rather than the talons that birds are a custom to having. "Crooked hands." He's describing claws designed to grab fish and other smaller creatures but calls them hands to emphasize the dramatic and importance in the line.
“Close to the sun.” How close to the sun can you be? We’re billions
of miles away from the sun and being “close to the sun.” takes almost a cinematic angle, there are always those western movies that have some sort of bird hovering in the air below the sun. But an illusion looks like its right next to the sun. Also giving some importance to the eagle, earth revolves around the sun and if the eagle was literally close to the sun the earth would be miniscule in scale to the eagle.
”The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls.” The eagle looks down at the sea rippling and waving looking like wrinkles in a blanket. A vast opening of ocean “crawls” the waves slow in nature from high above they push and drag itself further like the ocean is crippled by old age but young to crawl fierce but slow. Once again using personification to describe the ocean as a timeless body crawling and searching for something.
This poem’s length and language drew me into it almost instantly easy to follow, but the personification and hypothetical uses of the lines made me think deeper into the poems meaning. That’s what I enjoy reading in a poem, deeper meaning and thought put into words.