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The Brook Analysis

1) Tennyson's poem "The Brook" is written from the perspective of a brook describing its journey through the English countryside. 2) It uses personification to attribute human characteristics to the brook and emphasizes the timelessness of nature compared to the transience of human life. 3) The vivid imagery and musical elements like assonance and alliteration create flowing rhythm that mimics the movement of the brook.

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460 views2 pages

The Brook Analysis

1) Tennyson's poem "The Brook" is written from the perspective of a brook describing its journey through the English countryside. 2) It uses personification to attribute human characteristics to the brook and emphasizes the timelessness of nature compared to the transience of human life. 3) The vivid imagery and musical elements like assonance and alliteration create flowing rhythm that mimics the movement of the brook.

Uploaded by

Amnah Zafar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Brook By Tennyson

Tennyson begins “The Brook” with an end-stopped line, or a phrase or thought that concludes at the
end of a line of verse and is marked with punctuation. In this case, ending the first line with a comma
creates a natural pause that emphasizes the vivid imagery of the scene.

The use of ‘I’ enhances the autobiographical aspect of poem and creates a personal relation with the
reader.

2
The nouns “coot” and “hern” refer to types of birds that live in and around the brook. A coot is a
species of waterbird that is similar to a duck, while a hern is a heron, or a fish-eating bird with long
legs, a large wingspan, and a long pointed bill.

3
The noun “sally” usually refers to the abrupt rushing or attacking of an enemy during battle. In this
context, the speaker’s “sudden sally” simply refers to the abrupt beginning of a journey. The military
connotations of Tennyson’s word choice, or diction, suggests that the brook is strong.

4
Lines two and three contain repetition of words containing the letter “s” in order to create a distinct
hissing sound when read aloud. The sibilance generated by the words “sudden,” “sally,” and
“sparkle” creates a sweet tone and flowing rhythm that seems to mimic the movement of the brook,
as well as the sound of water falling over stones.

5
The entire poem uses personification, or the attribution of human-like characteristics to nonhuman
things. Tennyson casts the brook as the poem’s speaker in order to encourage readers to empathize
with nature, which was being negatively affected by the Industrial Revolution. Further, by writing
from the brook’s perspective, Tennyson suggests that nature has power and agency as opposed to
being at the mercy of humankind.

6
The poem frequently features assonance, or the repetition of vowel sounds. By repeating the “i”
sound in the words “hills,” “slip,” “ridges,” “little,” and “bridges,” Tennyson establishes a musical
quality to the poem and highlights the sound of each word. Ultimately, this assonance creates an
auditory flow through the poem’s separate lines that resembles the flow of the brook itself.

7
A “thorp” is a village. Using such short words to describe these settlements—thorp, town—
emphasizes the relatively small effect of human presence on the course of the brook.

8
Lines ten and eleven use enjambment, a device in which a thought or phrase that begins in one line
flows into the next line of verse. Through enjambment, along with the visual effect of short lines, the
poem is made to resemble the movement and shape of an actual brook.

9
The third stanza ends with a refrain, or a line or group of lines that repeat throughout a poem,
usually at the end of a stanza. By repeating the lines “To join the brimming river / For men may
come and men may go, / But I go on for ever,” Tennyson reminds readers of the fleeting nature of
human life in comparison to the immortality of the brook, or nature.

10
The verb “to eddy” means to move in a circular motion. The speaker’s description of the swirling
water in the bays reinforces the personification of the brook by underscoring its lively movements
and musical sounds.

11
The noun “fallow” is a plot of farmland that has been plowed but is left unplanted, usually in order to
allow the soil to restore its fertility.

12
The noun “mallow” refers to a species of purple flowering plants that commonly grows in England.
Tennyson includes such plants to convey a romantic, nostalgic image of the English countryside
that starkly contrasts with the industrialization that was taking place as he was writing.

13
Line twenty-one uses the repetition of words in rapid succession without intervening words in
between. In this case, the repetition of the verb “chatter” augments the poem’s auditory imagery
while extending Tennyson’s personification of the brook.

14
Tennyson employs alliteration, or the repetition of consonant sounds, in this poem. In this stanza, the
repetition of the consonant sound “f” in the words “foamy” and “flake” and the consonant sound “g”
in the words “golden” and “gravel” enhances the rich imagery of the natural scene. Additionally,
alliteration reinforces the poem’s steady rhythm as the brook travels toward the “brimming river.”

15
The verb “to murmur” creates auditory imagery that complements the poem’s vivid imagery of the
brook’s traveling the countryside. Furthermore, verbs like “to murmur” and “to chatter,” which are
usually used to describe a person’s behavior, develop Tennyson’s personification of the brook.

16
The final stanza of the poem reveals two major themes: the timeless power of nature and the
transience of human existence. The brook is in a perpetual state of “curve and flow” that will never
end—unlike humankind, whose presence is merely transitory. Ultimately, Tennyson implies that
nature will overcome the damages sustained throughout the Industrial Revolution by contrasting
humanity’s inevitable end with the brook that will “go on for ever.”

17
Paradoxically, although the brook is in constant motion, it also seems immune from time and
mutability: it existed long before the people who live near it were born, and it will exist long after
they are dead. Few of them probably pay much attention to the brook, but it will probably long
outlive them. Part of the purpose (motif) of the poem, in fact, is perhaps to make the reader notice
and appreciate aspects of nature that are easy to overlook or ignore. Another purpose, it would seem,
is to humble humans by reminding us of our inevitable mortality.

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