MID-SEMESTER ASSIGNMENT

SUBJECT: SUBSIDIARY ENGLISH

NAME: NUSAIBAH NADEEM

STUDENT ID: 202307045
COURSE: BA (HONS) TURKISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
TOPIC: THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF TENNYSON’S “BREAK,
BREAK, BREAK”
 ANTI PLAGIARISM CERTIFCATE

I, Nusaibah Nadeem, do hereby submit my

assignment
and certify that I have not plagiarised any and all
parts of my assignment.
I understand that plagiarism is an offence
that will subject me to disciplinary action according
the pertinent rules and regulations. I further
understand that plagiarism is identified not through
the intent but through the act itself.

Name: Nusaibah Nadeem

Student ID: 202307045
Date: 30/11/2023
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE VERSE

"Break, Break, Break" was written by Alfred Lord

Tennyson in 1835, two years following the passing of
fellow poet and close friend Arthur Hallam. Though
"Break, Break, Break" stands alone as a more generic
meditation on mortality and loss, most readers interpret it
as an elegy to Hallam since the speaker of the poem
regrets the passing of a personal acquaintance. The
poem, which was published in 1842, is sometimes read in
conjunction with Tennyson's larger piece "In Memoriam A.
H. H.", which is more overt in its remembrance of Hallam
and the influence he had on Tennyson's life.
The loss of a loved one is the poem's main theme. The
emotions that the poet allusively portrays are connected
to this loss, and the sea and everything that it
encompasses serve as a metaphor for the sensation of
loss and isolation.
The speaker of the poem wishes he could give voice to
his melancholy thoughts and memories, to move and talk
like the sea and those around him. The poetry appears on
the surface to be quite basic and uncomplicated. The
sequence of parallels between the poet's internal world
and the outside world is what really draws the reader into
the poem. Life occurs in the outside world, or at least it
did for the speaker in the past. His current preoccupation
is his inner world, where he is mired in intense grief and
loss as well as recollections of a past relationship with the
deceased.

THEMATIC ANALYSIS

The transient aspect of existence troubles the speaker of "Break,

Break, Break" greatly. The speaker of the poem appears to be
lamenting the loss of a loved one and coming to terms with the
realization that they will never come back. The poem doesn't
elaborate on the specifics of the speaker's loss, but it's obvious
that it has left him very troubled. He can't even look out at the
water without feeling plagued by the realization that everything in
life has an end.
The "stately ships" that sail to their "haven under the hill"
symbolize wooden coffins being brought to the cemetery to be
buried, and the "cold gray stones" represent the gravestones. The
speaker interprets everything around him as bearing symbols of
death.
The speaker is constantly reminded of how short life is by
everything around them. Since the waves are no longer in their
original form after breaking over the rocks, even the sound of
them slamming against the shoreline symbolizes this idea of
impermanence. The notion that nothing in the natural world is
permanent is strengthened by this. And this also applies, for
everyone who has ever lived, since non-permanence is
undeniable in the realm of nature.
Keeping this in mind, the speaker observes two happy kids
playing together and realizes that one day their youth will pass.

In a similar vein, the speaker will soon lose sight of the

magnificent boats in the bay as they sail out into the distance to
an unidentified place, and the young sailor singing beside will one
day grow old. The speaker is forced to acknowledge that
everything is transient in the face of these concepts of change
and transition. The speaker's shift in focus from the departing
ships to the melancholic recollection of the "touch of a vanish'd
hand"—a term that emphasizes the speaker's dismay that
humans essentially "vanish" through death—makes this mental
process clear. Humans fade from life in the same manner that
ships disappear into the horizon.
Although the speaker in "Break, Break, Break" never directly
states that his friend has died, we can assume that he has
because of his laments that he wants to "touch" the "vanish'd
hand" and hear "the voice that is still." Only time is specifically
mentioned as "dead" in the poem. According to the speaker, the
time he spent with his friend was like a "day that is dead"
because it would never come back. The speaker of "Break, Break,
Break" seems to be limited in his ability to fully comprehend his
friend's death; instead, he is only able to think of him in
fragments, such as his "vanish'd hand" and "voice that is still."
Most people are aware that nothing lasts, of course, but this
doesn't bother them as much. Ultimately, it is an undeniable
reality that a lot of people just accept. However, the speaker finds
this particularly unsettling because they recently lost a close
friend, which makes it difficult for him to stop thinking about how
quickly time is passing. He is upset because he knows there is no
way to go back in time and spend more time with his friend.Loss
alters the speaker's perspective on the world in this way, making
it more difficult for him to accept the fact that everything has an
end.
Strangely enough, though, since nothing will ever undo his
friend's death, the only thing that is permanent in the speaker's
life is loss itself. The individual in question will "never come back"
to the speaker, no matter what. Consequently, loss becomes the
one constant in life, even while it makes individuals such as the
speaker acknowledge that everything else in life is transient.
Grieving, the speaker finds it difficult to envision a future when he
can accept happiness and engage in daily activities like sailing in
the water. The speaker doesn't have to picture this kind of
unfettered joy, though, because it is happening right in front of
his eyes. The speaker is grieving, while the world continues on as
usual.

This dynamic highlights how the speaker's current feelings conflict

with the obvious fact that the rest of the world is moving on
without incident. The speaker experiences agony that is so
overwhelming that it is incomprehensible to others, which
worsens his grief and makes it more difficult for him to move on.
Stated differently, the speaker's suffering stems from the reality
that life has continued despite his immobilization caused by grief.
"Break, Break, Break" plays with contrasts to show the tension
between the speaker and the outside environment. For example,
the opening verse describes the seaside stones as "cold" and
"gray," creating a depressing scene that is contrasted with the
speaker's incapacity to "utter" the unsettling ideas that keep
coming to mind. This makes it quite evident how unhappy the
speaker is, yet the second verse breaks from this melancholy
mood when the speaker observes kids playing outside and a sailor
singing in the bay.
The poem's "cold" and "gray" scenery abruptly gives way to a
happier, carefree scene where people are going about their daily
business. This demonstrates how little the speaker's sorrow
affects other people; in fact, the outside world pays no attention
to what the speaker views as an irreversible loss.
Of course, the speaker is well aware that life does not halt to
accommodate one's personal misery. In light of this, the speaker
discusses the contented residents of the bay in a tone that is a
little bit harsh. The speaker presents their enjoyment as an insult
by starting the first and third lines of the second stanza with the
words "O, well for," as though mockingly stating, "Oh, how nice
for them." This illustrates how awful it is for the speaker to see
such happiness, which makes moving on and dealing with loss so
difficult.
To exacerbate the situation, the speaker is aware that the past is
"dead" and will "never come back," in addition to being unwilling
to move on. As a result, the speaker is immobile, unable to
interact with the present and yearning for the unretrievable past.
Readers are then made aware of how challenging it may be to
move on during sad times, particularly when it appears that no
one else is concerned about the anguish and suffering of an
individual.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson. The Poetry of Tennyson, by Henry Van
Dyke. 1899.

Mazzeno, Laurence W. Alfred Tennyson: The Critical Legacy.

Camden House, 2004.

Buckley, Jerome H. Tennyson: The Growth of a Poet. Harvard

University Press, 2013.