Commentary on 'Break, Break, Break' by Tennyson
Break Break Break by Alfred Lord Tennyson
The poem ‘Break Break Break’ by Alfred lord Tennyson was written in 1834, the year after the death of one of his closest friends; Arthur Henry Hallam. Hallam and Tennyson had been very close for almost six years, and Hallam had been engaged to Tennyson’s sister, so his fatal brain hemorrhage in 1833 came as a great shock to Lord Tennyson. Hallam’s death affected him so much that nineteen years later he named his son Hallam.The literate subject of the poem, is that the speaker is stood, overlooking the British coast, whilst the subtext suggests that in fact the poem is mourning a loss, which is almost definitely Hallam.
This poem is overall a very sad and depressing poem, as is to be expected of a poem written in mourning. One of the main themes throughout is death, but what is unexpected is that the only direct mention of death is not in reference to Hallam as Tennyson writes ‘But the tender grace of a day that is dead.’ This ‘day that is dead’ refers to the a time in the past while Hallam was still alive and with Tennyson, but is not directly linked to the idea of Hallam dying. It relates to the fact that their time spent together is over, gone, ‘dead’. The fact that Tennyson does not directly point out the fact that someone close to him is gone, but puts the idea across through subtext is a recurring point throughout the poem, one which I will look at in more detail later. Another theme in this poem is, of course, sadness. This is most effective when Tennyson is talking about the happy things he can see at the seaside in the second stanza, for example ‘O well for the sailor lad, That he sings in his boat on the bay!’. The effect is created that although these cheerful things are going on, they have no effect on Tennyson, and that he cannot appreciate them because all he can think of is Hallam. The use of the words ‘O well’ convey this idea, as without them these lines would not have the same effect. A third theme
The poem ‘Break Break Break’ by Alfred lord Tennyson was written in 1834, the year after the death of one of his closest friends; Arthur Henry Hallam. Hallam and Tennyson had been very close for almost six years, and Hallam had been engaged to Tennyson’s sister, so his fatal brain hemorrhage in 1833 came as a great shock to Lord Tennyson. Hallam’s death affected him so much that nineteen years later he named his son Hallam.The literate subject of the poem, is that the speaker is stood, overlooking the British coast, whilst the subtext suggests that in fact the poem is mourning a loss, which is almost definitely Hallam.
This poem is overall a very sad and depressing poem, as is to be expected of a poem written in mourning. One of the main themes throughout is death, but what is unexpected is that the only direct mention of death is not in reference to Hallam as Tennyson writes ‘But the tender grace of a day that is dead.’ This ‘day that is dead’ refers to the a time in the past while Hallam was still alive and with Tennyson, but is not directly linked to the idea of Hallam dying. It relates to the fact that their time spent together is over, gone, ‘dead’. The fact that Tennyson does not directly point out the fact that someone close to him is gone, but puts the idea across through subtext is a recurring point throughout the poem, one which I will look at in more detail later. Another theme in this poem is, of course, sadness. This is most effective when Tennyson is talking about the happy things he can see at the seaside in the second stanza, for example ‘O well for the sailor lad, That he sings in his boat on the bay!’. The effect is created that although these cheerful things are going on, they have no effect on Tennyson, and that he cannot appreciate them because all he can think of is Hallam. The use of the words ‘O well’ convey this idea, as without them these lines would not have the same effect. A third theme