“The Brook” Introduction

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“The Brook” Summary

“The Brook” Themes

• 

  Mortal Humans vs. Eternal Nature

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• 

  The Beauty and Power of Nature

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• 

  Human Life and Death

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Brook”

• Lines 1-4

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

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  By thirty hills I hurry down,
    Or slip between the ridges,
  By twenty thorps, a little town,
    And half a hundred bridges.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  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 for ever.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  I chatter over stony ways,
    In little sharps and trebles,
  I bubble into eddying bays,
    I babble on the pebbles.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  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.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

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

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-28

  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,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 29-32

  And here and there a foamy flake
    Upon me, as I travel
  With many a silvery waterbreak
    Above the golden gravel,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 33-36

  And draw them all along, and flow
    To join the brimming river;
  For men may come and men may go,
    But I go on for ever.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 37-40

  I steal by lawns and grassy plots:
    I slide by hazel covers;
  I move the sweet forget-me-nots
    That grow for happy lovers.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 41-44

  I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
    Among my skimming swallows;
  I make the netted sunbeam dance
    Against my sandy shallows;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 45-48

  I murmur under moon and stars
    In brambly wildernesses;
  I linger by my shingly bars;
    I loiter round my cresses;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 49-52

  And out again I curve and flow
    To join the brimming river;
  For men may come and men may go,
    But I go on for ever.

  

  

  

  

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“The Brook” Symbols

• 

  Villages and Bridges

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“The Brook” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Extended Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Onomatopoeia

  

  

  

  

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“The Brook” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Haunts
• Coot and Hern
• Sally
• Bicker
• Thorps
• Brimming
• Eddying
• Fret
• Fallow
• Foreland
• Willow-weed and Mallow
• Lusty
• Grayling
• Foamy Flake
• Waterbreak
• Hazel Covers
• Forget-me-nots
• Skimming Swallows
• Brambly
• Shingly Bars
• Cresses

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Brook”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Brook” Speaker

“The Brook” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Brook”

More “The Brook” Resources

• External Resources

  • "The Brook" Put to Music — Enjoy this archived copy of vintage sheet music—or even play along!

  • More Background — Read more about Tennyson's private and public life.

  • "The Brook" Read Aloud — Listen to a reading of Tennyson's "The Brook."

  • Tennyson's Life — Read about how Tennyson's personal life shaped his work.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Alfred Lord Tennyson

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