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The Brook
Alfred Tennyson
1. How does the brook ‘sparkle’?

The brook sparkles upon being hit by the rays of the sun on its way
down the valley.

2. ‘Bicker’ mean ‘to quarrel’. Why does the poet use the word here?

The brook produces a noise as it curves its way down the valley. The
poet, however, in his imagination, takes the brook to be a living entity,
and hence the use of the expression ‘bickers’.

3. How many hills and brides does the brook pass during its journey?

The brook passes thirty hills and fifty bridges during its journey.

4. Why has the word ‘chatter’ been repeated in the poem?

The word has been repeated in the poem in order to bring home to
the reader the youthful and lively movement of the brook.

5. “With many a curve my banks I fret” – What does the poet mean by
the statement?

The poet makes the particular statement in order to imply the

commotion it creates as the brook forces its way through many a
curve during its course.

6. “I wind about, and in and out” – What kind of a picture does the line
create in your mind?

The line depicts the youthful and lively movement of the brook in its
course. Its perennial flow is marked by spontaneous movement
through an uncharted course similar to life. It goes in and out of the
land upon which it follows and sometimes goes round about the same
just at will, but it seldom stops to flow.

7. What does the poet want to convey by using the words ‘steal’ and
‘slide’?
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The movement of the brook is not noisy throughout its course. Once it
has crossed the valleys, its movement is calm and steady, as it passes
through lawns and grassy plots.

8. The poem has many examples of alliteration. List any five examples.

Alliteration is a literary device identified by the use of words that

begin with same or similar sounds in close proximity with each other.

Some instances of alliteration in the poem include ‘golden gravel’,

‘sudden sally’, ‘fairy foreland’, ‘foamy flake’ and ‘sandy shallows’.

9. ‘I make the netted sunbeam dance’ – What does the ‘netted sunbeam’
mean? How does it dance?

The wind creates ripples as the brook flows. When the sun hits these
ripples, it appears as though the sun rays are caught in a net, and
hence the use of the expression ‘netted sunbeam’.

10. What is the refrain in the poem? What effect does it create?

The refrain in the poem is ‘. . . for men may come and men may go, /
But I go on forever . . .’

The refrain in the poem suggests the eternal and timeless nature of
the brook in contrast with the mortality and transience that typifies
human life.