E T R Y

PO
Unit
P.1 The Brook
by Lord Alfred Tennyson
1. Since centuries, human beings have always been drawn to rivers, streams and
other natural sources of water. Can you think of some characteristics of a river
that make it fascinating to mankind?

Characteristics
Calming effect of a river that
draw mankind

2. Here is a list of a few things. Can you tell how long each of them can live /exist?
(a) a dog (b) an elephant (c) a tree
(d) a human being (e) a star
(f) a mountain (g) a river 63
 3. The poem is about a brook. A dictionary would define a brook, as a stream or a
Poetry small river. Read the poem silently first. After the first reading, the teacher will
make you listen to a recording of the poem. What do you think the poem is all
about?
I come from haunts of coot and hern;
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.

5 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

10 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,
15 I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.

With many a curve my banks I fret

By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
20 With willow-weed and mallow.

I chatter, chatter, as I flow

To join the brimming river,

haunts: places frequently visited by

coot: a type of water bird with a white spot on the forehead
hern: heron, (another kind of water bird)
sally: emerge suddenly
bicker: (here) flow down with a lot of noise
thorpes: a village
trebles: high pitched tune
eddying: spiral movement of water
babble: sound made when one talks gaily
fallow: land left uncultivated to regain fertility
64 foreland: piece of land that extends into a river etc.
mallow: plant with hairy stems and leaves and pink, white or purple flowers
 For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.

Poetry
25 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

30 Upon me, as I travel
With many a silvery waterbreak
Above the golden gravel,

And draw them all along, and flow

To join the brimming river
35 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 covers
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
40 That grow for happy lovers.

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,

Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.

45 I murmur under moon and stars

In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;

And out again I curve and flow

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

lusty trout: a big freshwater fish

grayling: another type of fresh water fish
hazel: a small tree or bush with edible nuts
forget-me-nots : a type of flowers 65
shingly: covered with small rounded pebbles
cresses: a pungent leaved plant like a cabbage
Poetry About the Poet
Lord Tennyson (1809-92) was born in Lincolnshire. Poet Laureate for over 40 years,
Tennyson is representative of the Victorian age. His skilled craftsmanship and noble
ideals retained a large audience for poetry in an age when the novel was engrossing
more and more readers. Tennyson’s real contribution lies in his shorter poems like
The Lady of Shallot, The Princess, Ulysses, The Palace of Art etc. His fame
rests on his perfect control of sound, the synthesis of sound and meaning, and the
union of visual and musical.

4. After reading the poem, answer the following questions.

The poet has used a number of words which indicate ‘movement’ and ‘sound’. Working
with your partner make a list of these words from the poem and complete the web
chart.

sally
a.
sparkle

Movement words

b. 1. bicker

5. Sound words 2.

3.
4.

c. A word or a combination of words, whose sound seems to resemble the sound it

denotes (for example: “hiss”, “buzz”, “etc.) is called onomatopoeia. From the words
that you have filled in the blurbs above point out these words.

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5. The following is a flow chart showing the course of the brook. Can you fill in
the blank spaces with help from the phrases given below?

Poetry
2. Pass through
1. valleys and 3.
towns

6. 5. 4.

7. Joins the river

a) passes under fifty bridges; b) comes from the place where coots and herons live;
c) passes lawns filled with flowers; d) crosses both fertile and fallow land; e) goes
through wilderness full of thorny bushes

6. On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions
by ticking the correct choice.
(a) The message of the poem is that the life of a brook is __________ .
(i) temporary
(ii) short-lived
(iii) eternal
(v) momentary
(b) The poet draws a parallelism between the journey of the brook with __________
(i) the life of a man
(ii) the death of man
(iii) the difficulties in a man’s life
(iv) the endless talking of human beings
(c) In the poem, the below mentioned lines suggest that __________ .
“And here and there a lusty trout ,
And here and there a grayling”
(i) the brook is a source of life.
(ii) people enjoy the brook.
(iii) fishes survive because of water.
(iv) the brook witnesses all kinds of scenes. 67
 (d) Select the option that matches the given words/phrases with the appropriate literary
Poetry device used by the poet.

Words Literary Device

i) Chatter; Babble; Murmur 1. Alliteration- the occurrence of the
same letter or sound at the
beginning of adjacent or closely
connected words
ii) Men may come and men may 2. Onomatopoeia-the formation of a
go but I go on forever word from a sound associated with
what is named
iii) fairly foreland; with willow seed; 3. Inversion - reversal of the normal
foamy flake; golden gravel order of the words and phrases
in a sentence
4. Refrain - a word, line or phrase that
is repeated within the lines or stanzas
of the poem itself.

(i) i-2, ii-1, iii-4 (ii) i-4, ii-2, iii-3

(iii) I-2, ii-4, iii-1 (iv) i-1, ii-2, iii-3
(e) The first-person narration of the brook allows the reader to
(i) appreciate Tennyson’s use of symbols.
(ii) realize the ultimate goal of the brook.
(iii) experience the soothing effect of the sound of water.
(iv) understand the brook’s experience as a living organism

6.B. Read the given extracts and answer the questions that follow by selecting the
correct options.
A. 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.
(i) Choose the option that best describes the brook’s journey in the given stanza.
It is a journey full of__________ .
a) comfort and luxury
68 b) trials and tribulations
 c) sorrow and misery

Poetry
d) joy and laughter
(ii) The poet has used the pronoun ‘I’ to refer to the brook and thus employed a literary
device in his depiction. Choose the option that uses the same literary device as used
in the first line.
a) The magnitude of the bottomless ocean was divine.
b) The angry walls echoed his fury.
c) A mother is like a lioness protecting her cubs.
d) I felt the power of the gushing stream.
(iii) The brook seems to be fretting in the given stanza. This word has been used by the
poet to depict the ________ of the flowing brook.
a) force
b) kindness
c) silence
d) beauty
B. I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;
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.
(i) Choose the option that includes words that best describe the characteristics of the
brook, as revealed in the given extract.
1. perpetual 2. silent 3. twisted
4. unbound 5. interrupted
a) 1, 3 and 4
b) 1, 2, 4 and 5
c) 1, 2, and 3
d) 1, 2 and 4
(ii) The line, ‘men may come and men may go’
a) mocks the shortness of the brook’s life as it goes through its journey.
b) highlights the eternal nature of human life as opposed to its own.
c) contrasts the eternal nature of brook against short-lived human life-span.
d) highlights the eternal story of men that the brook comes across during its journey. 69
 iii) What do the words, ‘linger and loiter’ show about the brook?
Poetry a) Its continuity
b) Its slow movement
c) Its powerful force
d) Its ultimate purpose
7. Answer the following questions.
(a) Why does the brook ‘sparkle’ ?
(b) ‘Bicker’ means ‘to quarrel’. Why does the poet use this word here?
(c) Why has the word ‘chatter’ been repeated in the poem?
(d) ‘I wind about, and in and out’. What kind of a picture does this line create in your
mind?
(e) What does the poet want to convey by using the words ‘steal’ and ‘slide’?
(f) ‘I make the netted sunbeam dance’. What does ‘the netted sunbeam’ mean?
How does it dance?
(g) What is a ‘refrain’ in a poem? What effect does it create?
(h) Why has the poet used the word 'brimming' in the line, 'to join the brimming
river?
9. Identify the rhyme scheme of the poem, The Brook.
10. The poem is full of images that come alive through skilful use of words. Describe
any two images that appeal to you the most, quoting the lines from the poem.
11. The brook appears to be a symbol for life. Pick out examples of parallelism
between human life and the brook from the poem.
12. This poem describes the journey of a stream from its place of origin to the
river that it joins. The poem has been written in the form of an autobiography
where the brook relates its experiences as it flows towards the river. In Literature,
such a device by which an inanimate object is made to appear as a living creature
is called Personification. Just as the brook has been personified in this poem,
write a poem on any inanimate object making it come alive. You could begin
with a poem of 6-8 lines. The poem should have a message. Maintain a rhyme
scheme. Try and include similes, metaphors, alliteration etc. to enhance the
beauty of the poem. You could write a poem on objects such as a candle/a tree/
a rock/a desert etc.

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