Break, Break, Break-林荣娇-李玉珍-李茜

Statue of Lord Tennyson in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge
Major Works
• • • • • • • • • • Poems by Two Brothers《哥俩集》 Poems, Chiefly Lyrical 《抒情诗集》 Poems (two volumes) 《诗集》 The Princess 《公主》 Maud 《毛黛》 The Idylls of the King 《国王叙事集》(18591888) In Memoriam A.H.H 《悼念》(1950) Break, Break, Break 《拍，拍，拍》(1834) Crossing the Bar 《穿过沙洲》 The Eagle 《鹰》
I. The Author
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson (18091892) was an English poet during the Victorian period. He was one of the most populor poets of his period and was named poet laureate （桂冠诗人）in 1850, after death of William Wordsworth. • "Lord" isn't his middle name; it's his aristocratic title.
Repeating the same sentence structure, the speaker says it's great for the sailor who is "singing" in his boat.
Stanza 3 (Lines 9 - 12)
And the stately ships go on To their haven under the hill;
Life Story
• 1809 - Born at Somersby rectory， Lincolnshire, fourth son of the rector. • 1827 - Went to Cambridge University - Published Two Brothers • 1829 - Friendship with Arthur Henry Hallam • 1830 - Published his first volume • 1831 - Left Cambridge • 1832 - Published his second volume
Stanza 4 (Lines 13 - 16)
But the tender grace of a day that is dead It's not exactly the same – time has gone by, and even the breaking of the waves has changed slightly. Maybe it's the tide coming in. Will never come back to me. The waves have changed slightly, and we see that time is passing, despite the tragedy that the speaker has suffered. Mournfully he says that the happy old days when his friend was alive will never return. .
II. The Structure of the Poem
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Arthur Henry Hallam, Tennyson's best friend from college, died of brain hemorrhage（脑出血） suddenly while traveling in Vienna in September of 1833. Hallam was engaged to be married to Tennyson's sister, so the whole family felt the loss. In Memoriam A.H.H. was published in 1850, but Tennyson had been working on it for seventeen years since Hallam died. "Break, Break, Break" was published in 1842, but was written in 1834, only a short time after Hallam's death.
Stanza 3 (Lines 9 12) But O for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still! However, the speaker isn't distracted by the ships. He's just wishing he could "touch" the "vanished hand" and hear "a voice that is still." This is the first explanation of why the speaker is so sad. He's grieving for the lost friend he loved.
Tennyson's Manuscript
Comment on Tennyson
** Occupy a position similar to that of
Alexander Pope 亚历山大· 蒲柏（英国诗人）. ** Regarded as the preeminent（卓越 的） spokesman for the educated middle-class Englishwomen. **Queen Victoria kept Tennyson's poetry on her bedside table to comfort herself for her husband's death. She famously said, "Next to the Bible, In Memoriam is my comfort."
Tennyson with his wife Emily (1813-1896) and his sons Hallam (1852-1928) and Lionel (1854-1886).
Farringford - Lord Tennyson's residence on the Isle of Wight
Life Story
• 1836 - Went to live near London, for 10 years he published nothing. • 1842 - Came forth with 2 volumes; his fame established • 1847 - published The Princess • 1850 - published In Memoriam A.H.H. - pointed poet laureate • 1859 -1885: Idylls of the King • 1892- Died at Aldworth, Surrey
Illustration for Tennyson's "Break, Break, Break"
Structrure Analysis
• Stanza 1 (Lines 1 - 4 ) Break, break, break,
The speaker addresses the ocean directly, telling the waves to "break, break, break" onto the stony shore.
Main Idea • The poem presents a sea-side image, complete with a wild sea, playing children, fishermen and sailing boats, but Tennyson manipulates these elements to reveal a poem about his feelings of loss after Hallam died and the realization that there is something beyond the cycle of life and death.
And I would that my tongue could utter
He doesn't come out and say, "I can't utter the thoughts", he says that his "tongue" can't "utter" them. This makes him seem kind of passive – he's not speaking, his "tongue" is doing it.
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
After telling the sea to keep doing its thing, the speaker regrets that he can't express his thoughts.
Stanza 1 (Lines 1 - 4 )
The speaker thinks it's all well and good that the fisherman's kid is "shouting" and "playing" with his sister.
O, well for the sailor lad, That he sings in his boat on the bay!
Stanza 4 (Lines 13 - 16)
Break, break, break The speaker repeats the first line again, telling the waves to "break, break, break" again. At the foot of thy crags, O Sea! It's repetition with a difference: in the first stanza, he tells the waves to break "on thy cold gray stones", and in the last stanza, he tells the waves to break "at the foot of thy crags（峭壁）".
The fancy,"stately（庄严的） ships" pass by the speaker and head to their "haven（港 口）" or protected port.
The port is "under the hill", so there must be a big hill overlooking it.
Made by 林荣娇 李玉珍 李 茜
I. The Introduction of the Author
II. The Structure of the Poem III. The Content of the Poem
IV. The Features of the Poem V. Conclusion
The thoughts that arise in me.
He's not really thinking, either – the thoughts "arise in" him almost spontaneously, without any effort.
Stanza 2 (Lines 5 - 8) O, well for the fisherman's boy, That he shouts with his sister at play!