The Wounded Eagle
Eagle! this is not thy sphere!Warrior-bird! what seek’st thou here?Wherefore by the fountain’s brinkDoth thy royal pinion sink?Wherefore on the violet’s bedLay’st thou thus thy drooping head?Thou, that hold’st the blast in scorn,Thou, that wear’st the wings of morn!
Eagle! wilt thou not arise?Look upon thine own bright skies!Lift thy glance! the fiery sunThere his pride of place hath won!And the mountain lark is there,And sweet sound hath fill’d the air;Hast thou left that realm on high?--Oh! it can be but to die!
Eagle! eagle! thou hast bow’dFrom thine empire o’er the cloud!Thou, that hadst etherial birth,Thou hast stoop’d too near the earth,And the hunter’s shaft hath found thee,And the toils of death have bound thee!--Wherefore didst thou leave thy place,Creature of a kingly race?
Wert thou weary of thy throne?Was thy sky’s dominion lone?Chill and lone it well might be,Yet that mighty wing was free!Now the chain is o’er it cast,From thy heart the blood flows fast,--Woe for gifted souls and high!Is not such their destiny?
Words in this poem
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- pinion n.
- A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wounded Eagle is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, The Wounded Eagle, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-wounded-eagle.html, id L19520.
Form and metre
The Wounded Eagle is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDD sphereA · hereA · brinkB · sinkB · bedC · headC · scornD · mornD
- 2 AABBCCDD ariseA · skiesA · sunB · wonB · thereC · airC · highD · dieD
- 3 AABBCCDD bow'dA · cloudA · birthB · earthB · theeC · theeC · placeD · raceD
- 4 AABBCCB- throneA · loneA · beB · freeB · castC · fastC · highB · destiny
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Eagle! this is not thy sphere! | 7 | /˘····· |
| Warrior-bird! what seek’st thou here? | 7 | /˘····· |
| Wherefore by the fountain’s brink | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Doth thy royal pinion sink? | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Wherefore on the violet’s bed | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Lay’st thou thus thy drooping head? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Thou, that hold’st the blast in scorn, | 7 | ······· |
| Thou, that wear’st the wings of morn! | 7 | ······· |
| Eagle! wilt thou not arise? | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Look upon thine own bright skies! | 7 | ······· |
| Lift thy glance! the fiery sun | 7 | ····/˘· |
| There his pride of place hath won! | 7 | ······· |
| And the mountain lark is there, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And sweet sound hath fill’d the air; | 7 | ······· |
| Hast thou left that realm on high? | 7 | ······· |
| --Oh! it can be but to die! | 7 | ······· |
| Eagle! eagle! thou hast bow’d | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| From thine empire o’er the cloud! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thou, that hadst etherial birth, | 7 | ······· |
| Thou hast stoop’d too near the earth, | 7 | ······· |
| And the hunter’s shaft hath found thee, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| And the toils of death have bound thee! | 8 | ········ |
| --Wherefore didst thou leave thy place, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Creature of a kingly race? | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Wert thou weary of thy throne? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Was thy sky’s dominion lone? | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Chill and lone it well might be, | 7 | ······· |
| Yet that mighty wing was free! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Now the chain is o’er it cast, | 7 | ······· |
| From thy heart the blood flows fast, | 7 | ······· |
| --Woe for gifted souls and high! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Is not such their destiny? | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.