In six lines, Tennyson paints a complete and vivid picture of a bird of prey.
ByLord Tennyson1809-1892
Lord Tennyson1809-1892
Serving as Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria’s reign, Tennyson remains one of Britain’s most popular poets. His musical verse, rich imagery, and mastery of poetic structure captured the anxieties and ideals of the era. Works such as The Charge of the Light Brigade, Ulysses, and In Memoriam A.H.H. defined Victorian literary culture.
Main Text
Read this little poem out aloud, carefully, but not heavily. It has just six lines: J. H. Fowler headed them ‘Fragment’, but they are wonderfully evocative, and Tennyson would only have diminished their impact had he tried to go on.
He claspsHe 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.
Think and Speak
From a ’Fifties Classroom
For each word below, suggest words or phrases with a similar meaning.
Clasp
Wrinkle
Crawl
Fall
Watch
Suggestions
cling, clutch, grasp, grip
crease, ripple
creep
drop, swoop
look, observe
For the Writer In You
Prepare Your Paragraphs
Paragraphing is properly done in the mind before you start writing. It won’t work to leave it to come right as you go along. It won’t work to rely on decisions on the spot. ‘I think that is enough on that section; I’ll start another’ — so the lazy writer may think. The reader is not deceived, nor is he satisfied. Somewhere there should be a plan, either in the head, or on a slip of paper.
