THE BROOK

MADE BY : SHIVAMPUNDHIR

IX - A

LORD TENNYSON

About the PoetLord Tennyson (1809-92) was born in Lincolnshire. Poet

Laureate for over 40 years,Tennyson is representative of the Victorian age. His skilled

craftsmanship and nobleideals retained a large audience for poetry in an age when the

novel was engrossingmore and more readers. Tennyson's real contribution lies in

his shorter poems likeThe Lady of Shallot, The Princess, Ulysses, The Palace of Art

etc. His famerests on his perfect control of sound, the synthesis of sound

and meaning, the unionof pictorial and musical.

I come from haunts of coot and hern;I make a sudden sallyAnd sparkle out among the fern,To bicker down a valley.

haunts: places frequently visited bycoot: a type of water bird with a white spot on the foreheadhern: heron, (another kind of water bird)sally:emerge

suddenlybicker: (here) flow down with a lot of noise

I wind about, and in and out,With here a blossom sailing,And here and there a lusty trout,And here and there a grayling,And here and there a foamy flake

lusty trout: a big freshwater fishgrayling: another type of fish

By thirty hills I hurry down,Or slip between the ridges,By twenty thorpes, a little town,And half a hundred bridges. Till last by Philip's farm I flow

thorpes: a village

To join the brimming river,For men may come and men may go,But I go on for ever.I chatter over stony ways,In little sharps and trebles,

trebles: high pitched tune

I bubble into eddying bays,I babble on the pebbles.With many a curve my banks I fretBy many a field and fallow,And many a fairy foreland set

eddying: spiral movement of waterbabble: sound made when one talks gailyfallow: land left uncultivated to regain fertilityforeland: piece of land that extends into the sea

With willow-weed and mallow.I chatter, chatter, as I flowTo join the brimming river,For men may come and men may go,But I go on for ever.

mallow: plant with hairy stems and leaves and pink, white or purple flowers

Upon me, as I travelWith many a silvery waterbreakAbove the golden gravel, And draw them all along, and flowTo join the brimming river

To join the brimming river,For men may come and men may go,But I go on for ever.

For men may come and men may go,But I go on for ever.I steal by lawns and grassy plots,I slide by hazel coversI move the sweet forget-me-nots

hazel: a small tree or bush with edible nutsforget-me-nots: a type of flower

That grow for happy lovers.I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,Among my skimming swallows;I make the netted sunbeam danceAgainst my sandy shallows.

I murmur under moon and starsIn brambly wildernesses;I linger by my shingly bars;I loiter round my cresses;And out again I curve and flow

shingly: covered with small rounded pebblescresses: pungent leaved plant like a cabbage

'The Brook' is an example of

Tennyson's exquisite versification. He

had a rare capacity for creating music

out of simple words.

Tennyson makes the

brook narrate its history- the history

of its origin, its meandering and

uneven journey through forest and

hills and open spaces until it joins the

'brimming river'.

Summary

The Brook originates from a source on the

highlands filled with mountain forest cover,

where the wild birds of coot and hern are

found in plenty. Its rushing waters touches all

the ferns that grow on its banks till it reaches

the open valley. In its initial rushing journey,

the brook passes through the slopes of thirty

hills and flows beneath more than four dozen

bridges. Then it touches twenty different

villages before reaching a little town.

Before joining the main river, the brook passes by

Phillip's farm. As it comes rushing down the hills, its

waters produces different musical notes as it dashes

against the stony pebbles. The brook makes its

presence felt when it passes through the different

fields of uncultivated lands and many front lying

promontory lands where the weeping willows grow. It

winds about with immense power and its cool pleasant

waters brings all kinds of fresh water fish to a lively

activity.

The brook forms the foamy flake which is

accumulatd at the shores where gravels gather in

plenty, as it continues to travel down the hills.

Sometimes it overflows and incur upon the grassy

plots in the lawns. It even overflows to the gounds

of Hazel plants and touches the sweet forget-me-

nots. All the different sounds and movements that a

stream makes as it flows are charmingly conveyed

through the words used with an exquisite delicacies

of feeling. The trees on the banks, the fish playing

about, the blossoms floating on the water, the

stretches of darkness and light are vividly reflected

on the flowing verse. Above all, the spirit of joy and

freedom comes through eloquently.

Each morning when the sun rises, the rays and the

beams hit the waters and brightly reflect the shiny

dance of the active movement of the brook on the

sandy banks. When evening sets in and total darkness

covers the surroundings of the countryside, the flow of

the brook continues to murmur under the light of the

moon and stars. The effects of the brook on the shores

in the daytime is as much as in the night.

Tennyson significantly relates the brook to

human life to the sad reflection that man's life is

impermanent compared with the relative permanence

of a river (men may come and men may go, But I go on

forever).