Dickey's "Eagles"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines James Dickey's "Eagles" and in particular, how Dickey's narrator specifically expresses needs for belonging and freedom. It looks at how his desire for flight is born much more out of a desire to escape rather than to simply delight in the flying or to see the face of God and how unlike the eagles, his muscles aren't designed for escape. It discusses the theme of rejection that runs through the poem and how the narrator is not so afraid of rejection nor so prideful, that once he is shook off, he gives up the chase, nor is he put off by his conflicting desires for belonging and freedom.

From the Paper:

"Despite the noble and brave way, the narrator starts out the poem -- pondering, actually claiming the possibility that he might know the "circular truth of the void" -- he gets caught up battling to satisfy his more personal needs. The narrator's desire for flight is born much more out of a desire to escape rather than to simply delight in the flying or to see the face of god. He doesn't even speculate what the heavens contain; no mystery is speculated upon, except to say that the eagle "moves through /Clouds that will open to nothing." Rather than pursuing in this poem a more sublime quest, such as the qualities of the void, the narrator of the poem is much more preoccupied with the mundane matter of his escape."

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