The Eagle

Like the eagle, the form and meter are deliberate elements. There are two three-line stanzas, or tercets, and each line features iambic tetrameter, so there are four beats—four pairs of stressed, unstressed syllables. Line 1 reads, unstressed “[h]e,” stressed “clasps,” unstressed “the,” stressed “crag,” unstressed “with,” stressed “crook,” unstressed “ed,” and then stressed “hands.” This meter creates a pulsating rhythm that advances the themes of power and force. It’s like the eagle is marching in an army of one. The two distinct stanzas spotlight the paradoxical interpretations of the poem. The stanza breaks create a gap, and the reader can fill that void with drastically different perceptions—i.e., the eagle represents power, or he symbolizes precarity.

The AAA BBB rhyme scheme contributes to the stringency of the poem. In each respective stanza, the rhymes stay the same. They’re unmovable, just like the eagle, up until the end. The rigid form and meter make the eagle’s fall dramatic. The form and meter contain the eagle until the last word when the eagle leaves the poem to attack or because he suffered an attack.