Enhances the idea about human life

1. THE BROOK
ALFRED LORD TENNYSON

2. DESCRIPTION ABOUT THE POET(1809-1892)
• LORD TENNYSON(1809-1892)WAS BORN IN LINCOLNSHIRE.POET LAUREATE FOR
OVER 40 YEARS,TENNYSON IS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE VICTORIAN AGE.HIS
SKILLED CRAFTSMANSHIP AND NOBLE IEALS RETAINED A LARGE AUDIENCE FOR
POETRY IN AN AGE WHEN THE NOVEL WAS ENGROSSING MORE AND MORE
READERS.TENNYSON’S REAL CONTRIBUTIONS LIES IN HIS SHORTER POEMS LIKE
THE LADY OF SHALLOT,PRINCESS,ULYSSES,THE PALACE OF ART etc. HIS FAME RESTS
HIS FAME RESTS ON HIS PERFECT CONTROL OF SOUND,THE SYNTHESIS OF SOUND
AND MEANING,THE UNION OF PICTORIAL AND MUSICAL.

3. ABOUT THE POEM
• The Brook is a poem that
draws a resemblance
between the journey of the
brook and the life of man.
The circle of life from
childhood to old age and
then back to childhood is
what is being depicted
through this poem as the
flow from a brook.

4. STANZA 1
I COME from haunts of coot and
hern,
I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the
fern,
To bicker down a valley
• The brook starts from a place the coots(a
type of bird or a kind of duck & herns
(commonly known as herons) spend most
of their times.
• The brook suddenly rushes down.
• As the brook flows it sparkles because of
sun rays, and it flows through a ground
which mostly have grasses and flowerless
plants (ferns).
• The brook flows down a valley making
noisy sounds.

5. STANZA 2
By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorps, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.
• Here the brook swiftly flows down
many hills. There are not Literally
'Thirty hills' but the poet make's the
line creative by using 'Thirty‘ and not
'many'.
• The brook 'slips'(quickly moves)
between long narrow hilltops. The
brook flows Down past many villages
(Thorp-Old word for village)again
the poet tries to make the line
creative by using 'Twenty'-not
literally 'Twenty villages' and The
brook flows and passes by/through
many bridges-not literally 'Half a
hundred' bridges.

6. STANZA 3
Till last by Philip's farm I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may
go,
But I go on forever.
• The brook flows by a farm probably
owned by a man named Philip. After
the farm he flows to join a
overflowing river.
• Men/people have a short life spam
but the brook is immortal so it has a
longer life spam and hence goes on
'forever'.

7. STANZA 4
I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.
• As the brook flows it chatters (makes a
interesting and musical sound) over a
stony creek bed. When the brook
flows backward it 'pushes' the air and
makes bubbles. As the brook moves it
makes sound because of the pebbles.

8. STANZA 5
With many a curve my banks I
fret
by many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and
mallow
• The brook flows curvily because at one point
the pathcurves and it wears away. curves and
it wears away. fields and bare places (fallows),
probably the soil is infertile which is why
• the land is bare and no plants grow There are
many pieces of land sticking out in the brook
(called foreland) which have some plants such
as 'Willow-weed &
• mallow'. Where colorful & bright birds,
insects & butterflies come which
• look like fairies from far away.

9. STANZA 6
I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may
go,
But I go on forever.
The brook makes sound as it flows. The
brook makes sound as it flows.
The brook joins the river which is full to
the brim.
The brook is saying that while humans
are mortal and do not last a long time
and these lines are the refrain of the
poem which were repeated in the poem
to give an effective rhyming scheme.

10. STANZA 7
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,
The brook coils and twists on its way to
the river. An occasional flower can be
seen on its surface. The floating
blossom appears to be sailing on the
brook. The brook is also home to
freshwater fish such as trout and
grayling. The trout is a vigorous and
energetic fish. Hence Tennyson calls it
'lusty'.

11. STANZA 8
And here and there a foamy flake
Upon me, as I travel
With many a silver water-break
Above the golden gravel,
Due to occasional turbulent flow, flakes
of foam are produced, which float on
the flowing brook. Water breaks are
breaks on the brook's surface caused by
unevenness of its bed. These water
breaks reflect the sun that makes them
appear silver. Gravel is usually of a
brownish yellow hue. Hence the phrase,
'golden gravel'.

12. STANZA 9
And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may
go,
But I go on forever.
The brook draws along with it, several
floating objects as it flows towards the
river.
Here the poem's refrain is repeated. The
brook flows by.

13. STANZA 10
I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers;
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
That grow for happy lovers.
The brook flows by grassy stretches. It
passes by land covered with hazel (a
type of shrub). Forget-me-nots are low
growing plants with bright blue flowers.
They often grow on the banks of
streams, sometimes even touching the
water surface.
Forget-me-not flowers are often a sign
of faithfulness and enduring love. Hence
they are often associated with lovers.

14. STANZA 11
I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.
As the brook flows, it gently moves the flowers that
touch the water. The brook uses the words 'slip' , 'slide‘,
'gloom' , 'glance', to describe its movements. Swallows
often hunt for insects on the water surface. They skim
the water surface to capture the insects. The brook
glides among these 'skimming swallows'. The brook is
constantly moving. It also carries with it numerous fish,
floating blossoms, etc. Swallows often fly over it. Hence
the sunlight that falls on the bed of the brook appears
like a net instead of a continuous entity. Sandy shallows
refer to the shallow part of the brook that contains a lot
of deposited sand and silt. As the brook moves, the
'netted sunbeam' falling on the shallow bed appears to
dance

15. STANZA 12
I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;
Wilderness refers to a wild and uninhabited region. Brambles
are often found in such places. Hence Tennyson refers to such
regions as 'brambly wildernesses'. In quiet nights, as the
brook passes over numerous pebbles and uneven land, it
makes a certain sound. In the silent wilderness such sounds
can be clearly heard. The sound reminds one of murmuring. It
is as if the brook is talking to itself. Shingles are accumulated
masses of small pebbles. Elevated regions in a brook made of
such an accumulated mass deposited by flow, are referred as
'shingly bars'. Shingles are usually found in the slowest
moving part of a brook. Hence the brook says that it 'lingers
by such places. Cresses, in this case, refer to watercress that
often grows on the edges of brooks. As the brook passes
these tufts of watercress, its water seems to coalesce among
the plants. Hence Tennyson uses the word 'loiter' The brook
leaves the wilderness, the ‘shingly bars’ and the watercress
behind and flows in graceful curves towards the river. ‘used

16. STANZA 13
And out again I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may
go,
But I go on forever.
It ends with the refrain that although
the human life is transient, the flow of
the brook is perpetual.

18. DONE BY GROUP:C (03)
09 B