Line by Line Summary of The Brook by Alfred Tennyson

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Line by Line Summary of The Brook

“The Brook” is a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson that reflects on the nature of life and the passage of time. The poem uses the brook as a metaphor for the journey of life. Here’s a line-by-line summary:

  1. I come from haunts of coot and hern: The speaker introduces themselves as coming from a place where waterbirds like coots and herons live.
  2. I make a sudden sally: The brook starts its journey abruptly.
  3. And sparkle out among the fern: It flows and shines among the ferns.
  4. To bicker down a valley: The brook moves energetically down a valley.
  5. By thirty hills I hurry down: The brook flows down thirty hills.
  6. Or slip between the ridges: It also slips between ridges of land.
  7. By twenty thorpes, a little town: It passes by twenty small villages or towns.
  8. And half a hundred bridges: It crosses over fifty bridges.
  9. Till last by Philip’s farm I flow: Finally, it flows near Philip’s farm.
  10. To join the brimming river: It merges with a full-flowing river.
  11. For men may come and men may go: People come and go in life.
  12. But I go on forever: Yet the brook’s journey continues endlessly.
  13. I chatter over stony ways: The brook makes a chattering sound over rocky paths.
  14. In little sharps and trebles: It produces high-pitched sounds like sharps and trebles in music.
  15. I bubble into eddying bays: It forms bubbles in swirling corners of the water.
  16. I babble on the pebbles: The brook babbles as it flows over pebbles.
  17. With many a curve my banks I fret: The brook’s banks are curved and eroded by its flow.
  18. By many a field and fallow: It passes by many fields and uncultivated land.
  19. And many a fairy foreland set: It encounters many fairy-like promontories or headlands.
  20. With willow-weed and mallow: Covered with plants like willow-weed and mallow.
  21. I chatter, chatter, as I flow: The brook continues to chatter as it flows.
  22. To join the brimming river: Repeating its desire to merge with the full river.
  23. For men may come and men may go: Again, emphasizing the transient nature of human life.
  24. But I go on forever: While the brook’s journey is eternal.
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The poem ultimately contrasts the fleeting nature of human existence with the perpetual movement of nature, as symbolized by the brook.