Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
O, well for the fisherman's boy, 5
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O, well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay!
And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill; 10
But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!
Break, break, break
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead 15
Will never come back to me.
Title: The title of the poem is just the first line. Maybe Tennyson was too grieved to come up
with a title, or perhaps he thought the first line would be fitting. The repetition of “break” makes it seem more intense. It’s very harsh and violent. It also implies a pattern or cycle, continuous force.
Paraphrase: The speaker is speaking to the Sea, wishing he could speak. He sees the children
playing and singing and ships go by, but what he really wants is to feel or hear the person that is no longer with him. The waves will always crash against the cliffs, but he will never see his friend again.
Devices: Repetition of “break” brings emphasis, creates feeling of an uncaring cycle that’s
forceful. Personification and apostrophe of the Sea makes the sea seem like a cruel observer of the grief the speaker is going through. The Sea doesn’t do anything and just continues on in its cycle with its “crags” and “cold gray stones.” The speaker uses paradoxes to describe his friend that is gone, (line 11-12) emphasizing the permanence of death and the hopeless yearning of the speaker for something impossible. Metonomy is also used in those lines. The meter of the poem is musical, creating a flowing sound which is further emphasized by the alliteration in some of the lines. The rhyme scheme is ABCB, making the stanzas sound a bit like crashing waves, and the look of the poem could also be seen as uneven, crashing waves.
Attitude: The speaker seems full of grief. His exclamations to the uncaring Sea hold his anger
and despair. He sees the children playing and singing and seems to wish he could do the same. He talks of them saying, “O, well for the…” like he wants to be as carefree as they are. Toward the “stately ships” going “to their haven under the hill” he seems resentful. They are just going on their way while he is there yearning for “the touch of a vanish’d hand,/ And the sound of a voice that is still!” Finally, the speaker seems to accept the fact that the person he lost will never come back to him, but he still is mournful that he has lost “the tender grace.”
Shifts: There is a shift after each stanza. The first stanza holds the speaker’s anger. He seems to
direct his anger at the sea, but also that he can’t say what he needs to. The next stanza is an observation of the children around the speaker playing and singing and the speaker seems envious of them. In the next stanza the speaker is noting that other people are just going on with their lives. He sounds a bit resentful that they can go to their “haven” while he will never again know the “touch of a vanish’d hand.” The last stanza is the speaker’s final thoughts. The repetition of “break, break, break” shows again the cycle of the sea and contrasts that with his friend that will never come back to him
Title: Again, the title shows the cycle and detachment of the waves. Their reoccurrence seems to
contrast with the ended life of his friend and they are insensitive to the speaker’s loss.
Theme/Total Meaning: One of the themes of this poem is that though grief may still be
prevalent, time passes and the rest of the world moves on. The speaker continues to think of and mourn his lost friend, but time passes and life goes on. The speaker seems to struggle with how long he should grieve his friend, but at the end he becomes resolved to the fact that his friend is gone, and maybe he, too, can continue with his life.
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