"Break, Break, Break" is a poem by
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
written during early 1835 and published in 1842. The poem is an elegy that describes Tennyson's feelings of loss after
Arthur Henry Hallam
Arthur Henry Hallam (1 February 1811 – 15 September 1833) was an English poet, best known as the subject of a major work, '' In Memoriam'', by his close friend and fellow poet Alfred Tennyson. Hallam has been described as the ''jeune homme fat ...
died and his feelings of isolation while at
Mablethorpe
Mablethorpe is a seaside town in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, part of the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sutton.OS Explorer map 283:Louth and Mablethorpe: (1:25 000): The population including nearby Sutton-on-Sea was 12, ...
, Lincolnshire.
Themes
The poem describes feelings of loss, spoken by a man standing on the rocky sea shore. It has a strong biographical connection, containing Tennyson's feelings of melancholy and nostalgia. Tennyson captures his strong emotions in other poems, including ''Morte D' Arthur'', "
Tithonus
In Greek mythology, Tithonus ( or ; grc, Τιθωνός, Tithonos) was the lover of Eos, Goddess of the Dawn. He was a prince of Troy, the son of King Laomedon by the Naiad Strymo (Στρυμώ). The mythology reflected by the fifth-century va ...
", and "
Ulysses
Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature.
Ulysses may also refer to:
People
* Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name
Places in the United States
* Ulysses, Kansas
* Ulysse ...
". The suffering felt within the poem is connected to the suffering described in Tennyson's ''In Memoriam'', in that they both describe longing for Tennyson's deceased friend Hallam. This longing is voiced in the third stanza of "Break, Break, Break".
"Break, Break, Break" can be classified as an
elegy
An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...
on the subject of Tennyson's feelings about Hallam. Like "
On a Mourner
On, on, or ON may refer to:
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* On (band), a solo project of Ken Andrews
* ''On'' (EP), a 1993 EP by Aphex Twin
* ''On'' (Echobelly album), 1995
* ''On'' (Gary Glitter album), 2001
* ''On'' (Imperial Teen album), 200 ...
," written a year before, both poems use a very simple style and describe a scene in minimalistic terms. This technique is later used in later elegies written by Tennyson, including "
Crossing the Bar
"Crossing the Bar" is an 1889 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It is considered that Tennyson wrote it in elegy; the narrator uses an extended metaphor to compare death with crossing the "sandbar" between the river of life, with its outgoing "floo ...
", "
In the Garden at Swainston
IN, In or in may refer to:
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* Independ ...
", and "
To the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava". In several of his works, including "On a Mourner", Tennyson uses a myth to illustrate themes of the poem. However, this technique and other decorative aspects are dropped in "Break, Break, Break." This distinguishes the poem from other poems Tennyson wrote around the same time, such as "Tithonus" and "Ulysses".
Critical response
Michael Thorn, in his 1992 biography of Tennyson, claims, "This poem, so often anthologized, is a perfect example of how biography can be used to reinvigorate a work grown dull with repetition and familiarity. Almost certainly written during this visit to Mablethorpe
..knowledge of the biographical background creates a cinematically clear image of the cloaked poet looking resentfully at the cheerful fisherman's child, the equally jovial sailor, and the ships at sea. It is one of the great short lyrics".
In music
Sidney Lanier
Sidney Clopton Lanier (February 3, 1842 – September 7, 1881) was an American musician, poet and author. He served in the Confederate States Army as a private, worked on a blockade-running ship for which he was imprisoned (resulting in his catch ...
composed a "setting" for the poem in 1871. In 1906 the composer
Cyril Rootham
Cyril Bradley Rootham (5 October 1875 – 18 March 1938) was an English composer, educator and organist. His work at Cambridge University made him an influential figure in English music life. A Fellow of St John's College, where he was also or ...
set "Break, break, break" as a part song for unaccompanied men's voices (TTBB) as hi
Op.17 The work was published in the same year by Weekes & Co, as No.35 in ''"Weekes & Co.'s Series of Anthems and Part Songs in the Tonic Sol-fa notation"''.
Text
Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray 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.
Notes
References
*
Martin, Robert Bernard. ''Tennyson: The Unquiet Heart''. London: Faber and Faber, 1979.
* Shaw, W. David. ''Tennyson's Style''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1976.
* Thorn, Michael. ''Tennyson''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.
{{Alfred Tennyson
1835 poems
1842 poems
Poetry by Alfred, Lord Tennyson