Struggles on life

The eagle's golden breakfast    
Strangles them.    (dickinson)

The eagle is suppost to be a symbol of freedom and when dickinson uses it saying that the eagles gold breakfast strangles them it sounds like the whole meaning on the eagle has been flipped.  when an eagle of freedom would strangle someone, there would be no hope left.  just as the soldiers in the poem would have felt no hope and would have given up everything.