Notes For All Chapters English Literature Class 9
This poem of Lord Tennyson describes the journey of a stream from its place of origin to the ‘brimming ’river that it joins. The brook itself relates its experiences as it has been personified in this poem. It makes a sudden ‘sally ’from the place of its birth. It hurries down thirty hills, slips between the ridges and passes through twenty villages and a small town before joining the brimming river.
‘Men may come and man may go,
But I go on forever. ’
The poet brings an effective contrast between the transient life of man and the eternal onwardflow of the
The Origin
The brook has been personified. It describes its journey of life in its own words. It originates from a place which is haunted by waterbirds like coot and heron. In its infancy, it makes a ‘sudden sally’ or emerges out suddenly. There, it makes a lot of commotion and noise.
Onward Journey
The brook hurries down thirty hills. Then it slips between the ridges. During its onward journey about twenty villages fall on its way. It passes through a little town and half-a-hundred bridges.
Various Sounds and Movements
The brook makes different kinds of sounds and noises as it flows to join the brimming river. It ‘chatters’ over ‘stony ways’ making constant high pitched sounds. Then it makes ‘sharps’ and ‘trebles’ becoming more shrill and loud. It makes bubbles during its spiral movement. When it comes into open and in the last leg of its journey, its pace becomes relaxed. It flows leisurely and comes across many lawns and grassy plots while sliding by a dozen of tree covers. Under the moon and stars, the brook murmurs softly r in wilderness. It curves, it bends and flows in a zigzag manner.
A Source cf Life
The brook is a source of life. It has its own support system. Many blossoms float over its surface. Lusty trout and grayling fish swim in and out of it. It provides life and nourishment to animals and men.
Provides a Contrast to Man
‘For men may come and men may go
But I go on forever
This refrain in the poem brings about a contrast between the existence of men and the brook. Men take birth and die. Their existence is transitory or temporary. But the brook flows on forever. Its existence is eternal and in no way affected by the worldly activities.
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