JOHN LESTHER ELLANO PABILONIA

Break, break, break by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Had I the Choice by Walt Whitman are
poems, which use similar imagery and both use meter to make their point. Both poems talk
about a frustration in poetry, something that they cannot achieve. Their Use of meter and
imagery brings up two different viewpoints. One viewpoint values nature above all else and puts
all fault in poetry on the words and poetic devices, which can never truly portray nature. The
other viewpoint values expressing thoughts above all else. In this viewpoint, all of the faults in
writing poetry come on the writer, and they can use whatever methods they want to express
their thoughts. A study of these two poems show how these two viewpoints are related and give
contrast to each other. In Break, break, break by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the regular rhythm of a
poem is disrupted because of the irregular meter, which the poem shows. The poem starts with
three stressed syllables but quickly comes away from this pattern with anapests, but it does not
even stick to anapests as it throws in iambs and extrametrical syllables. While the poem is doing
this, it talks about how difficult it is for the writer to express his thoughts. The meter reinforces
this by giving a sense of chaos in the speakers mind because of all of the poem's metrical
irregularities. The title of the poem even signifies this pattern, as the poet breaks the meter so
often to express how he thinks.

Had I the Choice by Walt Whitman provides a good contrast to the previous poem. In this poem,
the meter is a very regular iambic with occasional spondees. He too complains about his
inability to say what he truly wants to. He compares great writers to nature and shows that the
writers can never match the beauty of nature. He says that one water’s wave is more beautiful
than all of this poetry, and throughout the poem, he emulates the wave with his meter. The
iambs represent the rising and falling of the waves, with the occasional spondee representing a
larger wave coming in. The regular meter is soothing, but it also shows how words can only
mimic nature in Whitman’s view.

In contrast to Tennyson’s irregular protest of the meter, Whitman tries to do his best to show the
limitations of the meter. Both poems complain about the limitations of words but it is as if the
meter suggests they take two different viewpoints. Tennyson seems to think that the limitation of
words lies with him. This is evidenced by how he does not reference other poets, and his
irregular meter shows how an inexperienced poet (or experienced a poet mimicking an
inexperienced poet) can go wrong with a meter. All of his troubles are individual. Whitman is
more concerned about the limitation of poems in general. He brings in Shakespeare and Homer
for contrast and still finds that nothing can match nature. His meter signifies how he cannot
conceive of any poem that could match what he sees. This is the biggest difference between the
two poems, Tennyson’s poem shows how words can be misused, but he still believes that what
he thinks and what he wants to express, can be expressed, with words. Whitman cannot even
think of how a poem could match nature’s beauty and believe words are unable to do so.

In Had I the Choice, The sea, particularly the wave, is used as an example that shows how
beautiful nature can be. His whole meter is based on the regularity of the wave, further
increasing its value in the poem. Whitman seems to revere the wave, and he sees it as
something that is almost a goal for all writers to be able to emulate it. When he asks the sea if
he can barter all the poetic tools that he has, he shows that all the poetic tools that can be used
are not as useful to him because they can only make very rough Approximations. Tennyson
looks at the sea as something chaotic that adds to his inability to say what he thinks. Tennyson
is likening himself to the sea, and saying that it is not able to portray what he thinks and can
only give rough approximations. Whitman says the opposite, he can only give rough
approximations of the sea. This showcases another difference between the thoughts of the two
poets. Tennyson sees poetry primarily as a way to express thoughts that cannot be put in any
other form. Whitman sees poems as attempted emulations of nature. These two views conflict in
how they value the sea, whether it is chaotic and tameable, or beautiful and inexplicable. In
Tennyson’s view, The sea is just a symbol, which can be used to help make a point. In
Whitman’s view, the sea is central and is a major focus and goal of all poetry. The differences of
these two viewpoints have been expounded in this paper.

There are also many similarities. Both viewpoints feel intense pressure to achieve their goal, but
Neither is able to. The poets would both give everything that they are familiar with to try being
able to express what they want. These two viewpoints also both agree that poetry is primarily
about being able to express something that is inexpressible in other manners. Ironically, poetry
is also not able to express these things, it just comes much closer than anything else. Although
poetry is a very diverse subject, its main aim is to express a thought that can come to its writer’s
mind.