The Brook
poem Class 8th, Tulip Series
Text of the Poem
Let us read and understand the poem.
I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.
By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorps, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.
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.
I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
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
With willow-weed and mallow.
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.
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
Upon me, as I travel
With many a silvery water break
Above the golden gravel,
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.
I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers;
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
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.
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
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever
Alfred Tennyson
Glossary
Haunt: place visited frequently
Coot and hern: water birds
Sally: to rush; to issue forth suddenly
Bicker: to move quickly with a participating noise
Ridge: a high edge along a mountain
Thorp: village
Sharps and trebles: the loud and low sound of music
Eddying bays: bays full of whirlpools
Fret: to wear away
Fallow: unploughed land
Foreland: tiny cape
Chatter: to pass with a noise
Wind about: to move in a curved way
Lusty: strong
Grayling: a trout having a broad fin
Gravel: small stones, often used to make the surface of paths & roads,
Steal: to move quietly
Hazel: a small tree that produces nuts, woods or buses
Gloom(verb): to grow dark
Glance: to produce small bright flashes of light
Netted(adj): looking like meshes
Brambly: full of thorns
Shingly bars: pebbles & sand hindering the flow
Cresses: small plants with thin stems & very small leaves
The Brook
poem Class 8th, Questions and Answers:
Thinking about the Poem
Q.1. Who is “I” referred to as in the poem?
Ans. ‘I’ is referred to the brook that has been personified in the poem.
Q.2. Trace the journey of the brook.
Ans. ‘The Brook’ is a story about the musical journey of a stream from its origin to its end. It’s a story about the various courses it takes to reach its destination i.e. a brimming river. The brook is personified in the poem and its itself narrates its story of life, therefore, the poem is written in the first person.
The brook originates from a place that is frequently visited by water birds like coot and hern. It at once acquires great speed and flows down producing its characteristic sound. It passes through various hills, ridges, various villages, and a town as well. It flows beneath about a fifty bridges, passes beside Phillip’s farm to ultimately reach the brimming river. It takes stony paths and makes a loud noise while passing through them. It produces whirlpools, it passes curving through the fields and fallows and capes with willows and mallows. It moves in a zigzag fashion and meets flowers, trout’s, gray lines and foamy flakes on its way. It carries the golden gravel with it. It passes through grassy lawns, it glides over its deepest and shallowest passages, it passes through the thorns of the woods, pebbles, cereses and what not with only aim to join the brimming river.
Q. 3. Explain the following lines:
“ For men may come and men may go but I go on forever”.
What purpose do these lines serve?
Ans. The poet has used these lines as refrain i.e., they get repeated at regular intervals.
In these lines, the brook mentions the natural phenomenon of the universe the phenomenon of life and death. Billions of people came to this world, lived their lives and eventually met their inevitable fate i.e. death. Nobody came to live forever unlike the brook, whose the journey started since the creation of the world and is still going on oblivious of the fact that how many people have lived and died during this time.
The purpose of these lines is to impart an idea that the world does not stop for anyone. The phenomenon of nature goes on no matter what. The cycle of life and death keeps moving. Humans are only a part of this phenomenon. There are things that have been there before their arrival and will be there after their departure. Nature is all powerful, everlasting and so humans must not think of themselves as eternal beings.
Q.4. Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in verse such as “I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance’. Pick out more examples of alliteration from the poem.
Ans. Alliteration is the repetition of the initial sound usually a consonant or first sound of two or more neighbouring words in a line of prose and poetry. Examples from the poem are:
Sudden Sally Sparkle, twenty, town; Phillips, from flow; men, may; bubble, bays, babble; field, fallow, fairy, foreland; with,Willow, weed; foamy, flake, golden gavel, slip, slide, gloom, glance, skimming swallows’ sandy shallows; murmur, the moon.
Q5. Can the journey of the brook to be compared to human life? How?
Ans. The poet has employed symbolism in the poem using the journey of the brook as a symbol of the human journey. The use of personification and the first person ‘I’ relates the brook to a human even more. The journey of a brook runs parallel to the journey of a man. The changes of size, shape, speed, sound, and courses that a brook encounters along its journey are similar to the different stages and experiences that a man confronts in his lifetime. Like an infant, a brook is born, it is wild energetic. It rushes forward to meet challenges like a human baby. It undergoes various changes making different sounds i.e. showing various dispositions like a human baby then comes the ripe age of the brook where it flows with patience just like a grown-up individual who performs calculated actions. Then comes a stage for the brook where it loiters like an old man who finds it move and after this age. As the brook flows again to meet its fate i.e. brimming river, humans move to their fate i.e. death. The journey of the brook never stops and so does not stop the cycle of birth and death. Individuals die but the existence of the living continues to be there.
