Write the summary and explanation of the poem entitled Break..

Write the summary and explanation of the poem entitled Break Break Break.

Ans.

O mighty waves of the sea, I hear you breaking all the time against cold grey stones of the rocky coast nearby. I do not know what you mean by that. But I am equally unable to give expression to the thoughts that arise in me at the present moment. How happy that fisherman’s boy is, who is busy with his young sister in playing and shouting! And how happy is that young sailor boy who is singing carelessly, sitting in his boat on the bay! The world and its business is going all the same, as is testified by the grand ships moving gracefully in the direction of their ports. Who cares that I am sitting here all alone and with a heavy heart near my dear friends grave? How intensely I yearn for the touch of my friends hand once more and how much I crave to hear once again the sound of only friends voice! But I must remember that it cannot be.

The waves of the sea will go on breaking on the rocky shores forever. But the graceful, and happy days of my past life, spent in the cheerful company of my friend, are past recovery. They have become a part of my memory for ever.

EXPLANATIONS

1. Break, break, break,

On thy cold gray stones, O seal

And I would that my tongue could utter

The thought that arise in me.

Explanation with Reference to the Context- This is the opening stanza of the poem ‘Break, Break, Break’ composed by Alfred Tennyson. Arthur Hallam, one of the best friend of the poet died in 1833. He had grown gloomy during this time and after due to the death of Hallam and the criticism he met. This poem is an elegy and celebrates the sense of disasters.

The poet invokes the sea in a personified manner that he should be violent in upraising his waves so that he may utter his sense of fury and gloom. He should beat his waves against the cold stones located on the bank of water. The poet finds the sea sad in the same way as he himself is. Gloomy expression of waves will give a harmony to the poet and he will sing the same dirge. He will try to utter his own grief. Though the poet on the same instant does not claim to utter his grief due to his heavy heart.

Note- (1) The poet uses ‘sea’ as a personified object.

(2) The poet uses the symbolic adjective ‘cold’ because the death too, makes the dead cold.

2. 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!

Explanation with Reference to the Context- This stanza emerges in Tennyson’s poem Break, Break, Break. The poet mourns the death of his friend, Arthur Hallam. He is seated on the side of hill and ocean. He compares his sadness with other object that are gay enough.

The poet finds that the body related to the profession of fishing is happy in his business. He is in the company of his sister and playing with her happily. They are shouting with joy. The boy of the sailor is also very happy. He is sailing this boat in the bay and singing a song happily.

Note- It is a general romantic sense of the Victorian poets that they compare their grief’s with the joys of another object and elevate a haunting sense of sadness. This trick brings their grief’s to high station.

3. And the stately ship go on,

To their haven under the hill:

But for the touch of a Vanished hand,

And the sound of a voice that is still!

Explanation with Reference to the Context- This stanza has been selected from the elegy ‘Break, Break, Break’ composed by Alfred Tennyson. The poet mourns the death of his friend, Arthur Hallam. He finds different objects and persons happy while he is sad. Everybody meets his desired ambition but he is a bare failure in this matter.

The poet finds that life of nature goes on in usual way. The grand ships are going to their harbour to meet their destination under the foot of the hill. Life of every object is going on in usual way. He himself is solitary and gloomy. He desires to have the warm hand of his alive friend but he is unable to obtain it. He wishes that he should hear the hushed voice of his friend. But it is disgusting that his friend and his voice are still in death and cannot come back to him.

Note- The poem nourishes a sense of permanent despair and failure. The poet expresses his intense desire to have his friend alive.

4. Break, break, break

At the foat of the crags, O sea!

But the tender grace of a day that is dead

Will never come back to me.

Explanation with Reference to the Context- This stanza is an extract from the elegy. ‘Break, Break, Break’ composed by Tennyson. The poet invokes the sea to stimulate his waves to strike against the rocks and stones on the shore. The poet wants to accompany the ocean in the expression of grief’s, but he finds that movements in the ocean get their desire contrary to his own person.

The poet invokes the sea to raise his waves so that they may collide against the rocks or crags. These waves may reach to the steep of rugged rocks but he finds no solution to his own suffering. He wished to have the pleasures of the happy days when his friend was alive in his company. Unfortunately, those pleasures have departed from him forever. His friend will never come back to him.

Note- The poem narrates the pessimism of the poet. He finds no ray of hope to meet his friend.