Break, Break, Break

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About the poem

• The poem ‘Break, Break, Break’ was written in 1835, and later it was published in 1842.

• The poem consists of four quatrains. It is written in irregular iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter .

• The poem was written for the death of Arthur Hallam who was the poet’s friend.

• It is written in a lucid and heart -touchy language.

• It is written in melancholy tone.

• The entire poem is a lamentation for Arthur Hallam’s death. So it is an elegy.

• The theme of the poem revolves around death, life and Nature.

Substance

The poet sat at the bank of the sea and wished if the waves of the sea would break on its cold grey stones. He compared himself to the waves of the sea and thought if he also could express his sorrow of losing his friend. The memory of his friend came in his mind repeatedly , but he felt tongue-tied and could not express his grief in words. He saw the fisherman’s son shouted with his sister while playing . He saw how a sailor lad sang a song on the bay out of joy. He realized how everyone moves on despite his sorrow, but he was unable to participate in joys , and express his sorrows. 

The poet saw grand ships to go to the port under the hills,  recalled how the coffin of his friend had gone to the underground. Then the poet grieved for the touch of his friend’s hand which was vanished, and his friend’s voice which was still. At the end the poet saw the waves of the sea to break at the bottom of the crags of the sea, and realized that his ability of expressing his sorrow would be unable to bring back life to his friend who was dead , so he would not enjoy the elegance of those days which he had spent with his late friend.

 Short Answer Type Questions

1. Why could not the poet express all that was going on his mind?

Ans: The poet was engulfed in sorrow for the death of his friend Arthur Hallam .So he could not express his grief which made his tongue unable to speak.

2.What did the poet say about the fisherman’s boy and the sailor lad?

Ans: The poet said that  the fisherman’s boy shouted with his sister while playing, and the sailor lad sang a song while going on the bay.

3.What does the fisherman’s boy do in the poem ‘Break, Break, Break’?

Ans: In the poem ‘Break, Break, Break’, the fisherman’s boy shouts with his sister while playing.

4.“But the tender grace of a day that is dead

Will never come back to me.”–What did the poet mean to say by ‘tender grace of a day’? Why did the poet think that it would not come back to him?

Ans : The tender grace of a day that is dead—the beauty and warmth of the time that is past, the time spent with his friend, will never come back to the speaker, because the friend with whom the speaker spent the time is no more.

5.Why does the poet ask the sea waves to break in Tennyson’s ‘Break ,Break ,Break’? 

Ans : The speaker wants to get normal and regular life as he had before the death of his friend Arthur Hallam. So he requests  the waves to break , which symbolizes his own desire to break and crash into grief. 

6.What could  the poet not be able express? 

Ans : The poet could not be able to  express his thoughts which came to his mind repeatedly in remembrance of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam .

7.How are the stones described in the poem ‘Break, Break, Break’?

Ans :In the poem ‘Break, Break, Break’, the stones are described as ‘grey’ and ‘cold’.

8.Why is the narrator claiming that the ‘tender grace of the day that is dead will never come back?

Ans :The narrator is  claiming that the ‘tender grace of the day that is dead will never come back because the poet’s friend Arthur Hallam can not be alive again, and the poet can not spend time with his friend as he did earlier.

Long Answer Type Questions

1.What do the fisherman’s boy and the sailor lad do in the poem? How do they influence the poet?

Ans : The fisherman’s boy  plays on the shore and the sailor boy sings and sails a boat on the bay.

They remind him of the way the earth keeps turning even after his friend has died. After listening to their voice , the poet remembers the voice of his dead friend that is still forever. He realizes  that he cannot express his feelings as others do.

2.Is ‘Break, Break, Break’ an elegy?

or,

The poet is lamenting for his friend’s death in ‘Break, Break, Break’. Justify this statement with relevant details from the poem.

Ans : The poem ‘Break, Break, Break’ is a sad and pathetic poem penned by Alfred Tennyson. In the first stanza, the repetition of “break” conveys the ceaseless motion of the waves, each wave reminding him of his inability to voice his sorrow. In the second stanza, the poet realizes that the fisherman’s son and the sailor lad possess joy and fulfilment, but he does not. In the third stanza, Tennyson sees the grand ships moving to their safe haven which makes him recall his friend’s hand and still voice. In the fourth stanza, the sea with its waves breaking against the shore awakens in the poet memories of bygone days and reminds him of happy days that cannot be returned.

Here the poet expresses his grief at the untimely demise of his intimate friend- Arthur Hallam throughout the poem which has made it a perfect elegy.

3. In the poem, who are the two people that cannot speak? How does the poem show that life and nature go on despite what happens to human beings?

Ans : The two people that are unable to speak are the speaker and his friend. The speaker’s friend is no more, so his voice cannot be heard anymore. The speaker is deeply upset by the death of his friend. He is so distressed that he cannot express all that is going on his mind. So, he too is unable to speak as he would like to.

The speaker is mourning the death of his friend. He is deeply sad but he cannot express his sorrow. He misses his friend’s company and his voice and knows that the time spent with his friend will never return. Yet he sees that the sea waves crash on the shore as always; children play and sing and sail as before, unaffected by his sorrow. Ships sail on. Nothing beyond his own life stops or changes because of his sorrow. Thus, life and nature go on despite what happens to human beings.

4. What mood is the poet in and why do you think so?

Ans : The poet is in a sad mood because he writes about a ‘vanished hand’ and ‘a voice that is still’. He also says that the grace of the day is dead.

The speaker addresses the waves of the sea, telling them to crash against the rocky shore again and again. Watching this happen, the speaker yearns for the ability to express troubling thoughts that won’t go away. Looking out onto the water, the speaker watches a fisherman’s son yelling out while playing with his sister, as well as a young sailor who sings while sailing through the cove. There are also impressive boats sailing through the bay, and the speaker envisions them passing into ideal, somewhat heavenly destinations. But watching these ships doesn’t distract the speaker from the memory of touching the hand of an acquaintance who no longer exists, whose voice has gone silent forever. Again, the speaker calls out to the waves as they smash against cliffs along the shoreline again and again, feeling that the easy happiness of previous days will never return.

5.“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!”- Explain.

Ans : In this stanza of ‘Break, Break, Break,’ the speaker watches the “stately ships” proceeding to their “haven under the hill,” and they seem satisfied with their ends. But, the lovely sight of the ships doesn’t keep the speaker’s mind occupied for long as the “stately ships” reminded him of his friend’s coffin going underground. So he expresses the feeling of absence of his dear friend and through missing  the touch of his vanished hand and the sound which makes all calm and quiet. It appears that no matter what the speaker does, he can’t escape the memories of the person he lost. 

6.What does the poet say in the first line of the poem? Who is being addressed here? In the first stanza, what does the speaker wish he could do? What does it say about his state of mind?

Ans : The poet says that the waves of the sea are beating against the rocky shore.

The sea is being addressed here.

In the first stanza, the speaker wishes that he could speak out loud the thoughts that come to his mind. This shows that he was feeling overwhelmed and upset. His mind was  engulfed in emotions and pains for his dead friend, A.H. Hallam that he wanted to express them and feel better, but he could not.

7.How are the themes of grief and death expressed in the poem ‘Break, Break, Break’?

or,

How does Tennyson convey melancholy and nostalgia in the poem?

Ans: In the poem ‘Break, Break, Break’ , Tennyson is engulfed in grief and sorrow because of the untimely death of his intimate friend Arthur Hallam.

The poet stands near his friend’s grave on the sea-beach, and observes the ceaseless motion of the waves which remind him of his inability to express his sorrow . The sight of cheerfulness of the fisherman’s boy and the sailor lad remind him of the way the earth keeps turning even after his friend has died. He observes the grand ships moving to their safe haven, and recalls his friend’s hand and still voice. Even the sea with its waves breaking against the shore awakens in the poet’s memories of bygone days that can not be returned. In this way Tennyson conveys melancholy and nostalgia through presenting the themes of grief and death throughout the poem.

Exercise

1.Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence :

(a) What does ‘Singing by the sailor and playing by children’ indicate?

(b) What does the poet wish for in the third stanza?

(c) Why does the speaker address the sea, and not his dead friend?

(d) What was the mood of the poet when he composed ‘Break, Break, Break’?

(e)”And the sound of the voice that is still “-Why has the voice gone still and whose voice is being referred to here in the poem?

(f)What did the poet want to utter in Break, Break, Break?

(g)What does ‘Haven’ mean?

(h)Where does the sailor lad sing?

2.Answer the following questions in about 80 words :

(a) “Will never come back to me.”– What will never come back to the speaker? Why?

(b) How does the poem show that life and nature go on despite what happens to human beings?

(c) Explain the lines:

“But O, for the touch of a vanish’d hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!”

(d)Comment on the central idea of the poem ‘Break, Break, Break’.

(e)How are the themes of grief and death expressed in the poem ‘Break, Break, Break’?

(g) The poet is lamenting in ‘Break, Break, Break’. Support this statement with relevant details from the poem.

(h) Highlight the role of the sea in the poem.

(i)What did the poet realize at the end of the poem?

Textual Grammar

 3. Do as directed:

(a) The poet said, “The tender grace of a day that is dead will never come back to me.” (Change the narration)

(b) And the sound off the voice that is still! (Correct the errors)

(c) The fisherman’s boy shouts. He shouts with his sister at play. (Combine into a complex sentence)

(d) I would that my tongue could utter the thoughts that arise in me. (Correct the errors)

(e)He shouts with his sister at play.(Split into two sentences)

(f) The poet said, “The boatsman sings in his boat on the bay.” (Change the narration)

(g) The thinking that arise in me. (Correct the errors)

(h) The stately ships go on. It goes to the haven under the hill. (Combine into a complex)

(i)The fisherman’s boy shouts. He shouts with his sister at play. (Combine into a simple)

(m)The poet says, “I would that my tongue could utter the thoughts that arise in me.”(Change the narration)

(j)The tender grace of a day that is dead will never come back to me.(Split into simple sentences)

Word-Meaning:

stately-big and grand, haven -port which is a place of safety, thy-your, crags-ridge, tender-delicate, grace-elegance