Sometimes a short poem is just a short poem.
To read Tennyson's "The Eagle"
Analysis
This poem is just a simple poem about an eagle. In the first stanza the eagle sits perched up on some high mountain crag in some deserted area, and in the second stanza he suddenly swoops down in flight. That's really all there is to it as far a subject matter goes. However, the significance of the poem is the interesting way Tennyson communicates that experience of the eagle through the poetic devices: crooked hands, ring'd with the azure world, wrinkled sea, like a thunderbolt, etc. Notice the interesting contrast between the two stanzas: in the first the eagle is sitting still, and in the second one he is in flight.
There is nothing in this poem to suggest that Tennyson is making a religious, philosophical, or political statement.
