Tuesday 4 December 2012

6. a) Unseen Poetry - Imagery

The Eagle by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
 
           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.
 

Imagery in a poem is used to create a picture in our minds, so a lot of information is ‘shown’: implied or suggested, rather than explicitly written. 
 
Task:
  1. What imagery can you spot? Quote and explain at least one example youcan see.
  2. List all the ways we know that the eagle is very high up, even though we aren’t explicitly told so.  Just quote phrases.
  3. Notice the line: ‘The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls ‘; what can you say about the words ‘wrinkled’ and ‘crawls’ being used together in one image?  What does this emphasise in the poem?

43 comments:

  1. 1.'And like a thunderbolt he falls' Creates an image in our minds of a fast flying eagle as he uses a simile to show us how he wanted to portray the eagle, it makes us understand how fast the bird was flying.
    2. 'Close to the sun' 'Ring'd with the azure world, he stands' 'He watches from his mountain walls'

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    1. Great comment Beth. Make sure you expand on the explination and delve into the two things being compared more.

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  2. 1. ''and like a thunderbolt he falls'' the imagery in the poem implies that a bird is preparing to fly away quickly

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    1. Charlotte and Nina4 December 2012 at 13:49

      good answer, i like what you have said there

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    2. I agree. Make sure you explain why.

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  3. 2.'' Close to the sun in lonely lands'' and ''Ring’d with the azure world, he stands'' are two quotes that show the eagle is high up

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  4. Charlotte and Nina4 December 2012 at 13:46

    1. The poem is clearly refering itself to a bird, for example "He clasps the crag with crooked hands" this conveys that the animal is large and has claws which proves that poet is describing an eagle

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  5. Charlotte and Nina4 December 2012 at 13:47

    2."He watches from his mountain walls"
    "Close to the sun in lonely lands" are two examples that show that the eagle is very high up

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  6. Charlotte and Nina4 December 2012 at 13:47

    3.the words "Wrinkled" implies that the sea has ripples and from above they look like "wrinkles". On the hand "Crawls" suggests that he is almost gliding in the air..

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    1. Can you think of connotations of the work 'wrinkled'?

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  7. 3.The words 'wrinkled' and 'crawls' emphasise the fact that the bird is so high up that the sea looks wrinkled

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  8. 3. ‘wrinkled’ describes how the sea looks beneath the sea and the word 'crawls' could be describing the waves of the sea.

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  9. 2.-" Close to the sun in lonely lands"
    -"Ring’d with the azure world, he stands"
    -"He watches from his mountain walls"
    -"And like a thunderbolt he falls"

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  10. "The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls" suggests that the sea is moving as the eagle flies across. "close to the sun" creates an image that shows its quite high up if its close to the sun. "wrinkled" sugests movement and that the sea isnt flat. "crawls" suggests that he is walking on the air.

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    1. What is implied if someone is flying close to the sun?

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  11. 1) they are using alliteration to make you have a feel of what they are trying to get you to picture using the poem "clasps the crag with crooked"
    2) this is used in most lines to show that the bird is high in the air including lines like this shows that he has the world underneath his claws."wrinkled sea beneath him crawls" "Ring’d with the azure world"


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  12. 1. "wrinkled sea " creates an image that there is loads or ripples in the sea . We could also interpret from this that perhaps the sea is old. ? And the word "thunderbolt " connotes speed and snappy .
    2. The wrinkled sea "crawls" so it shows its below him and that he is high up. The fact that he is above the mountain shows he is high becuase mountains are high.
    3. The word "wrinkled " and "crawled" together is juxtapose to eachother - with the word wrinkled you think of an old man , and with the word crawl you think of a baby. so it sort of "goes" together

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    1. Nice use of the words connotes and juxtapose Hannah.

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  13. The 'like a thunderbolt he falls' sets the image in the readers head and creates a vivid image of the eagle flying abruptly. 'The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls' suggests that the sea is beneath him therefore he must be quite high as the sea is low beneath him. The wrinkled describes the seas waves but implies that its very crashy waves and the crawl links to the wave being slow like a baby learning to crawl.

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  14. A number of techniques are used to create a vivid image in the readers head; Examples of this include alliteration 'clasps the crag with crooked hands' as well a personifying the sea by saying it 'crawls'.
    The writer also suggest how high the eagle is by saying 'the azure world; he stands' Azure represents the colour of the sky, meaning the eagle is almost standing on the sky.
    Wrinkled and crawled are two verbs that contrast eachother, however they both personify the sea. 'Crawling' brings to mind a baby, however 'wrinkled' gives connotation of an older person.

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  15. 1)'The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls' creates good imagery. The word 'wrinkled' creates the image of the rippling sea underneath the bird.

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  16. 1. "Close to the sun in lonely lands" Infers that the eagle is flying really high that it is near the sun, lonely lands suggests that it is all by itself.
    2. "Close to the sun in lonely lands" and "The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls"
    3. Wrinkled Sea is personified as it suggests that the waves are like wrinkles. The crawls suggests the waves are moving slowly.

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  17. 1. Close to the sun in lonely lands, this suggests that the eagle is flying very high but is also travelling by himself.
    2. Close to the sun in lonely lands
    azure world
    mountain walls

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  18. 1."Wrinkled sea"-personification of the sea as wrinkled perhaps to display it as weak when comopared wit that of the eagle.The similie "thunderbolt" implys that the eagle may be falling quickly; the poet may want to portray the eagle as fast and direct-like the thunderbolt."close to sun", "mountain walls", "sea beneath him" show that he is high up

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  19. The use of "like a thunderbolt he falls" suggest he is falling from very high up with great speed.

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  20. Imagery is created with carefully created descriptions, "crooked hands" "lonely lands" and "wrinkled sea".

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  21. The words 'crooked', 'lonely' and 'wrinkled', are all mentioned in the poem, and all relate to something that can be very old.

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    1. Linking and grouping words to discuss is a really good way of looking at themes and trends in language with in a poem Shivani. Can you expand?

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  22. 1. "And like a thunderbolt he falls". An image is created due to this quote because we can imagine a thunderbolt falling from the sky from a great height. The image of the eagle is created as we can imagine it falling from the height at which it flies like a thunderbolt from the sky.

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  23. 'And like a thunderbolt he falls' is a simile that implies that a bird such as an eagle strikes with absoloute pace and deadliness which it does

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  24. "The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls" suggests that the sea is moving as the eagle flies across. "close to the sun" creates an image that shows its quite high up if its close to the sun. "wrinkled" sugests ripples in the see from the power of the eagles wings."crawls" suggests that he is increasing and climbing higher in the air.

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  25. "lonely lands" symbolises the scenery and could mean that it is set in an isolated area.

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    1. Great. Can you link this to a deeper hidden meaning. Could hte poet be talking about something else?

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  26. The poet uses the metaphor 'The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls'. This helps the reader imagine the motion of which the tide is coming in and out. the word 'crawls' gives the momvement a slow feel, as if the sea is lazily dragging itself back and forth. The word 'wrinkled' could be suggesting that the sea is old, and thats why it's moving so slowly.

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    1. I like your breakdown of the imagery Shaghayegh.

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  27. The poet uses imagery to exagerate the piece. This makes it more interesting

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