Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE BEAKS OF EAGLES, by ROBINSON JEFFERS Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: An eagle's nest on the head of an old redwood on one of the Subject(s): Birds; Eagles | ||||||||
I The beaks of eagles are sharp, all eagles are strong, But it takes more than a tall, dark, feathered body and great wings to make the metaphor fly. I have seen eagles too, but not like these: a golden eastern day was dying, the moon Climbing the ancient skyline, an eagle floated in the middle air Motionless over the whole valley, against the whole scene, A pillar of the last light Gilded his golden feathers Bright as gold. A moment the incredible frozen hawk hung there, Taking the whole valley, the dusk, the moonrise, at last nightfall letting himself drop, Dropping with closed wings Noiselessly, motionless, Like a death descent, Down to the jagged rocks On the canyon floor, A river of the mountain Glistening below. So it is, our minds are like these eagles Whose instinctive skill glides over the whole continent. We swoop into thought. Our talons tear at the prey of reason, Our power is in our eyes. II The eagle is the symbol of our land, and of more than land, of a continent that feeble men break and deride, but cannot conquer. He has chosen the mountain with his eye on the sea, so shall we choose the mountain and be secure. The gray sea is not tamed yet, is not a pasture for mariners, and it is said that only now and then a man is born who is fit to sail on it, born too early or too late. Many have been born too early, they know the sea is dangerous, what was the name of that Phoenician who had himself tied to the mast? — and so our minds are like ships in the night, the sailor ignorant of stars and compass, at the mercy of the wind. III The eagle screams, the eagle is the cry of the soul. It calls us out of night To seize the bright sword. The eagle watches us from his mountain, His eagerness is fierce, he is never cloyed. We are his creatures, our hearts are his, As we flinch and fret in our corners He drives us to the sky. Not by resignation, the fashion of cowards, Not by evasion will he save us. The uttermost way is the only way, The way of eagle and the way of man. He drives us to the extremity Where we snap the chains and fly. IV Why should men be afraid of the sea? The sea is a great mother, her sons Are many, her daughters are beautiful. She has many voices, Many languages, but her song Is simple and the same in all. She sings of men in ships, And we must answer her song, For we are born to the sea. The stars move in their courses, The moon is a pirate ship, Wrapped in a veil of fog, Tacking across the waves. The sea moves in its bed And the mountains move in theirs, And men move over the continents In great wheels of migration. V The claws of eagles are sharp, all eagles are strong, But it takes more than a tall, dark, feathered body and great wings to make the metaphor fly. Eagles have the mountain as their own, And we have what we wish for. We have the power to destroy And the power to forget. We have forged a civilization That threatens the life of the planet. We must remember our origins As eagles remember theirs, And renew ourselves in the womb Of the sky and the earth and the sea. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FOR THE LAST WOLVERINE by JAMES DICKEY THE EAGLE OF THE BLUE by HERMAN MELVILLE THE EAGLE; A FRAGMENT by ALFRED TENNYSON THE DALLIANCE OF THE EAGLES by WALT WHITMAN THE EAGLE AND THE MOLE by ELINOR WYLIE MYRMIDONES: THE WOUNDED EAGLE by AESCHYLUS TO THE GALLIC EAGLE by BERNARD BARTON BOATS IN A FOG by ROBINSON JEFFERS |
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