25. Unseen Poem Comprehension for Class 8

BREAK, BREAK, BREAK

BREAK, BREAK, BREAK

Break, break, break,

On thy cold grey stones, 0 Sea!

And I would that my tongue could utter

 The thoughts that arise in me.

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!

 And the stately ships go on

To their haven under the hill ;

But 0 for the touch of a vanished hand,

 And the sound of a voice that is still.

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.                                      

Complete the following sentences briefly :  

(a) What is the situation of the poet?

(b) What does the poet ask the sea?

(c) What are the fisherman’s son and daughter doing on the shore?

(d) What does ‘Singing by the sailor and playing by children’ indicate?

(e) What is the meaning of the line ‘the sound of a voice that is still’?

(f) What is the moral of the poem?

(g)What does the word ‘impressive’ dignify? (Lines 7-10)

(h) Write the meaning of the word ‘tender’(lines 1-4)

Answers

 (a) The poet is sad/unhappy/dolorous/morose/lamenting over the death of his friend Arthur Hallam.  

(b) The poet asks the sea to break the cold grey stones.

(c) The fisherman’s son and daughter are playing wholeheartedly on the seashore                                        

(d) The present line signifies that no one bothers about the poet’s grief.

(e) It means the sound of his friend who is no more.

(f) The moral of the poem is that life goes on and on despite human suffering and tragedies.

(g)  â€˜Impressive’ means stately.

(h) ‘Tender’ means delicate.

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