"BREAK BREAK BREAK" POEM BY ALFRED LORD TENNYSON
"Break, Break, Break" Poem
Break, break, break
On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.)
O well for the fisherman's boy,
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay!
And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!
Break, break, break,
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me.
Glossary
Line 1. break fall to piecesLine 2. bay part of a sea or lake within a wide curve of the shore
Line 10. haven refuge; sea-port
Line 11. vanish'd hand of his friend Arthur Hallam
Line 14. crags rocks
Explanatory Notes
1. Tennyson is at his lyrical best in this short poem. It is an example of how content and form become one in a good poem. It also shows how image and sound, jointly and separately, match the predominant feeling being expressed.2. Note the sound effects in the poem. The breaking sound of the waves of the sea comes alive through the repetition of 'Break, break, break, both in the first and in the last stanzas. The sad heart of the poet calls out to the sea through 'O' sounds in every stanza. The poet expresses happiness and sorrow through the phrases 'O well for' and 'O Sea' respectively. The same rhyme is used in the first and the last stanzas, using the same words: 'Sea' and 'me'.
3. Structurally, the balance of emotion is maintained using six lines to convey life that goes on happily (lines 5 to 10) and six lines to express the poet's grief associated with his friend's death (lines 3, 4; 11, 12; 15, 16). Note how the poet's grief breaks out, or is expressed, intermittently, like the waves. Note how the refrain in lines 1 and 2, which conveys the predominant feeling of personal loss, is repeated in the last stanza (lines 13, 14) bringing this drama of life and death full circle.