Break, Break, Break
Break Break Break describes feelings of loss. The poem has a strong biographical connection with Alfred Lord Tennyson's life. The poem contains his feelings of melancholy along with
his feelings of nostalgia. The poet wrote Break, Break,
Break during early 1835, and published in, 1842. This is an elegy that describes
the poet’s feelings of loss after his friend, Arthur Hallam died. The poem is extremely
simple in form and color.
SUMMARY
Tennyson’s loss is both personal and profound. There is a cyclone of pain rising in the heart of the poet, a storm similar to that of the
sea. WhereasThe angler’s boy and the sailor lads are merry. Nevertheless, the poet
stands grief-stricken, as the memories of the past gather in his mind.
Break, break, break,
On thy
cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The
thoughts that arise in me.
In the first stanza, the poet says that the torment of his
heart as the death of his friend is tremendous. There is a struggle like the
struggle of the sea waves on the stormy shores. The question before him is how
he can express adequately the thoughts, which occur in his mind.
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!
In the second stanza, the poet says that others' lives are full of joy as for the angler’s son and daughter who are laughing and shouting merrily. The
poet, on the other hand, is entirely in a melancholic mood. He is restless and
grief-stricken at the death of his friend. The poet admires the innocent joy of
these youngsters but he is sorry because he cannot share it. The lad of the
sailor is also happy and sings in his boat face to face with the magnificence
of the sea. However, such joy the poet cannot enjoy.
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!
In the third stanza, the poet says that the majestic ships are reaching their destinations under the hill. The poet however has no definite plan
for his life and he misses his friend Hallam whose voice and touch was so
soft and tender. The grief of the poet is terribly intense. The poet mingled
the beauty of sound and the beauty of sense. They are nothing but grief personified
and they make grief eternal.
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.
In the last stanza, the poet asks the waves to strike
against the seashore and thus repeat this joyful experience, but the poet
cannot recall the experience, which he enjoyed earlier in the company of his friend.
God had been very kind in blessing him with the tender friendship of Hallam.