In line 3 the author describes the ‘azure’ (blue) world that surrounds the eagle. This is the big blue sky and the vast mass of sea that is around the eagle. ‘Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.’ When the author says ‘he stands’ at the end of the line he is putting the idea across that the Eagle is much more than just a bird, he is standing tall in the centre of his world as if her is in control like a god.
At the start of verse 2 it furthers the ideas set in line 3 – ‘The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls.’ Tenyson uses the metaphor ‘wrinkled sea’ to describe the waves of the sea. The way Tenyson says the sea is wrinkled could also be trying to say that the sea is frail compared to the eagle. Tenyson describes the sea as being ‘beneath’ the bird and crawling, as if the sea is cowering before the bird, making the bird seem god-like.
In line 5 Tenyson says ‘he watches from his mountain walls’. Tenyson describes the walls as ‘his’ making it sound as if the eagle owns the mountains and its ‘his’ territory. This furthers the idea of the eagle being powerful.
In the last line of the poem Tenyson says ‘And like a thunderbolt he falls’
This is saying how the eagle can fall effortlessly like a thunderbolt, which shows how much power the eagle holds.
What did Cowper think of Tiney?
Cowper is obviously very fond of his pet hare, Tiney. He is very protective over it; this is shown in verse 1 of the poem –
“Here lies, whom hound did n’er pursue,
Nor swifter greyhound follow,
Whose got ne’er tainted morning dew,
Nor ear heard huntsman’s ‘hallo’ “
Cowper is saying that his hare has never been let into danger, and his feet have never even touched the ‘morning dew’. This shows that Cowper cares for Tiney and will not let him come to any harm.
In the second verse Cowper describes how he raised the hare like one of his children, but even though Cowper was trying to raise the hare like he was the hare still had a wild streak in him.
“Old Tiney, surliest of his kind,
Who, nursed with tender care,
And domestic bounds confined,
Was still a wild jack-hare”
Cowper must have great love for the rabbit as he treats it like one of his own, letting it jump around the house.
Cowper respected his hare, and sometimes the hare respected Cowper.
“Though duly from my hand he took
His pittance ev'ry night,
He did it with a jealous look,
And when he could, would bite.”
Cowper didn’t mind when Tiney bit him because he respects the hare’s wildness. Tiney does sometimes wait in a ‘duly’ manner but sometimes slips back into his wild ways.
In verse 4 and 5 Cowper talks about the Tiney’s diet. Tiney’s diet is no average diet, he had “wheaten bread, /And milk, and oats and straw, / Thistles, or lettuces instead/with sand to scour his maw. Cowper says Tiney ‘regaled’. This means feasted, Tiney was treated as if he was royalty.
Cowper let Tiney ‘skip’ and ‘gambol’ on his carpet.
“A Turkey carpet was his lawn,
Whereon he loved to bound,
To skip and gambol like a fawn,
And swing his rump around”
This is showing more how Tiney is spoilt by his owner. A turkey carpet is very expensive, not something that owners would usually let a Hare on, this shows that Tiney is special to his owner.
Cowper is very observant of Tiney’s habits; he notices lots of little details. He notices how Tiney goes to sleep for most of the day and comes alive at night – “Dozing out all his noons/and ev’ry night at play. Remembering Tiney’s habits like this shows that Cowper had time for the Hare.
Cowper said he kept Tiney because the hare amused him –
“I kept him for humours sake,
For he would oft beguile,
My heart of thoughts made it ache,
And force me to smile”
This is saying, even on the days when Cowper was sad; Tiney would force a smile to his face.
In the last couple eof verses Cowper talks about the death of Tiny, but he still looks on the positive side of things. -
“But now beneath the walnut shade
He finds his long, last home,
And waits in snug concealment laid,
Till gentler puss shall come.”
This verse is describing where Tiney is buried, under a walnut tree. Cowper looks on the bright side by saying Puss, his cat, will die soon, and it will keep Tiney company when he dies.
