Break, Break, Break by Tennyson (Summary)

The speaker addresses the waves of the sea, telling them to crash against the rocky shore
again and again. Watching this happen, the speaker yearns for the ability to express
.troubling thoughts that won't go away

Looking out onto the water, the speaker watches a fisherman's son yelling out while playing
.with his sister, as well as a young sailor who sings while sailing through the cove

There are also impressive boats sailing through the bay, and the speaker envisions them
passing into ideal, somewhat heavenly destinations. But watching these ships doesn't
distract the speaker from the memory of touching the hand of an acquaintance who no
.longer exists, whose voice has gone silent forever

Again, the speaker calls out to the waves as they smash against cliffs along the shoreline
again and again, feeling that the easy happiness of previous days will never return.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Break, Break, Break”

Lines 1-2
The beginning of the poem is rhythmically intense, as the speaker repeats the word "break"
to create a line of three stressed syllables in a row (this repetition is an example of
epizeuxis). This relentless rhythm builds a startling opening that is reminiscent of the sound
of powerful waves crashing over rocks on a shoreline—the exact thing that the speaker
focuses on in the first stanza, calling out to the sea and telling it to "break" upon the nearby
stones.

The alliteration in this line adds to this sense of emphasis, as the /br/ sound repeats three
times. Similarly, the assonance that appears in the long /a/ sound ("break") pushes the
effect of this repetition even further, making it sound even more untiring. In this way, the
natural world surrounding the speaker emerges right away as bleak and unforgiving.

On the whole, the speaker's use of apostrophe to address the sea not only establishes the
setting of the poem (clarifying that the speaker is standing on the shoreline), but also
highlights that the speaker sees the surrounding environment as quite harsh. The speaker
continues in line 2 to employ bleak terms, using the words "cold" and "gray" in reference to
the rocks on the shore. Along with the power of the first line, these descriptors make the
scene of the poem feel hostile, as if the speaker is fixated on all the ways in which the
surrounding world is cruel and inhospitable.

This interpretation is reinforced by the metrical nuances of the first two lines: after the three
consecutive stresses in the first line, the poem's next stressed syllable lands on the word
"cold":

Break, break, break,

On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!

"Break, Break, Break" is metrically complex, since it strays from convention in its use of
rhythm. Having said that, the poem frequently employs trimeter (lines with three metrical
feet), as is the case in the second line. The first metrical foot in the second line is an anapest,
which is a poetic foot with two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable (in this
case, "On thy cold"). This places an emphasis on "cold" that ultimately expands upon the
speaker's description of the environment as grim and desolate (though it's worth noting that
some might argue that "thy" should receive a stress, too—either way, though, "cold" would
remain stressed). Accordingly, readers are encouraged to view the immediate landscape as
ruthless and severe.

At the same time, it's worth noting that this landscape has yet to be truly revealed, since the
only thing readers have been told about it is that waves are breaking on "cold gray stones."
As the poem continues, then, it remains to be seen whether the speaker's dreary description
of this landscape is accurate, or if this bleak presentation is actually a reflection of the
speaker's internal emotional state.

Another analysis
In the first stanza of ‘Break, Break, Break’ the speaker begins by talking directly to the waves.
This is a technique known as anaphora. He speaks to them although they are unable to
respond. The speaker directs them to continue breaking powerfully against the “cold gray
stones” of the shore. They hold a gloomy power that speaks to his emotional state at that
time. He wishes, in lines three and four, that he could get his tongue to “utter / The
thoughts” that are haunting him. He has thus far been unable to express his emotional state.
It is too complex, or perhaps too dark, for him to find the words.
Stanza Two

O, well for the fisherman’s boy,

That he shouts with his sister at play!

O, well for the sailor lad,

That he sings in his boat on the bay!

In the second stanza, there is a good example of anaphora with the repetition of “O, well for
the” at the start of linesmen and three. This phrase introduces the two different experiences
that he sees around him. The “fisherman’s boy,” his “sister” and the “sailor lad” are all
experiencing the sea differently than he is. These are good examples of juxtaposition,
especially the young man who is singing “on the bay”. He’s finding joy in his life and the
ability to express his emotions.

Stanza Three

And the stately ships go on

To their haven under the hill;

But O for the touch of a vanish’d hand,

And the sound of a voice that is still!

In the third stanza of ‘Break, Break, Break,’ the speaker takes note of “stately ships” that are
sailing off into the distance. They too are living differently than he is. He hopes that they are
going to a new land, somewhere sorrow can’t touch. But, the lovely sight of the ships
doesn’t keep the speaker’s mind occupied for long. He is quickly brought back to the
experiencing of touching a “vanish’d hand”. Tennyson might have been thinking of the hand
of Arthur Hallam, his deceased friend. The voice that is now lost also comes to his mind. It
appears that no matter what the speaker does, he can’t escape the memories of the person
he lost.

Stanza Four

Break, break, break

At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!

But the tender grace of a day that is dead

Will never come back to me.

The fourths stanza begins with the repetition of the line “Break, break, break” which began
the poem. He tells the waves again to break against the shore at the “foot of thy crags”.
Tennyson used an exclamation point at the end of line two in order to emphasize his, or his
speaker’s, passion.

Despite the power of the waves, the damage they do, or the sights that he sees around him,
he can’t get back to the “grace of a day” that happened before his close friend died. Things
are different now and that time “Will never come back to [him]”.