Building confidence in unseen poetry:
‘Break, break, break’ by Alfred Tennyson
Teaching notes
These notes and accompanying resource have been written by Trevor Millum, poet and
curator of The Poetry Place. The purpose of this resource is to build student
confidence. The unseen poem is of moderate difficulty and they should be able to say
quite a lot about it without too much prompting, though some prompts are available for
students who need some support.
Introduction
Ask students to recall the kinds of things they should be looking for in a poem in an
‘unseen’ situation (see the Teachit resource ‘Tackling unseen poems’).
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Initial impact – theme/topic ‘This is a poem about…’
The ‘voice’ of the poet – the tone, the approach or persona of the poet
Language – the vocabulary used by the poet, repetitions, person and tense,
grammar
Techniques – imagery, sound effects, rhyme and rhythm
Structure – verse form and variations, the ‘direction’ of the poem
Response and summary – conclusion and personal response
You could ask students to create a mnemonic for Theme, Voice, Language, Techniques,
Structure, Response. ‘These Very Lively Teaching Sessions Rock!’ might or might not
appeal … They also need to be aware, of course, of any specific question the examiner
has posed. In this resource, there is no specific question.
Revise what is meant by the bullet points, using a poem with which they are familiar.
Exploring the poem
Now give out copies of ‘Break, break, break’ and give them time, to work with a partner
(or alone), to jot down responses to the bullet points above. The poem is provided on
the differentiated worksheet below with space for their notes. Choose the appropriate
version for your students.
When students have time to work on the poem gather their responses in a plenary
session recording observations made using the whiteboard (preferably interactive, so
that you can save the notes).
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Building confidence in unseen poetry:
‘Break, break, break’ by Alfred Tennyson
Use students’ responses to develop things they have noticed into a more analytical level.
These notes may help:
Voice/tone:
Although the poet is grieving the death of his close friend, Arthur Hallam, the tone is
not soft and mournful. There is a sense of anger and the repeated exclamations give
an impression of someone shouting – perhaps shouting at or above the sound of the
waves? The exclamations are interwoven with quieter lines, ‘But …’
Language:
The language is simple and the vocabulary relies on short single-syllable words
especially in the exclamatory lines. The words in the quieter lines tend to be slightly
longer. Several words and phrases indicate a negative change: ‘But …’ ‘I would that
…’ and ‘O well for…’ – implying ‘It’s all very well for …’ Note the impact of words like
crags, stone, cold. For a poem which is about loss, there are many active physical
verbs contrasting with the stillness of death. Students will also notice the use of ‘thy’
and a few other hints of the period.
Techniques:
The rhythm varies according to the poet’s thoughts. The staccato, percussive first
verse then becomes a little softer in verse two, then quieter still in verse three until
the grief and anger bursts out again in the final verse. Tennyson does not use any of
the rich vocabulary he employs elsewhere, not does he use metaphor or simile – it’s
enough that the pounding of the sea on the rocks echo or symbolise his feelings.
Structure:
As we’ve seen, the poem has a kind of sandwich structure with the two really forceful
stanzas enclosing more reflective ones. (It might be too fanciful to suggest that you
have waves breaking against rocks in the first verse, then a period of settling down,
followed by a quiet ebbing before the next wave comes crashing in with the final
verse.)
You may, of course, wish students to use their notes and the discussion in order to
create a written response.
Comparing poems
You may now wish to introduce a comparative task, with another poem on a similar
theme. Hardy’s ‘The Walk’ is featured at the end of this resource to enable you to do
so.
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Building confidence in unseen poetry:
‘Break, break, break’ by Alfred Tennyson
Theme/topic: What is the poem about?
Break, break, break
Pick out interesting uses of words and
phrases.
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
What is the tone of voice?
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 O for the touch of a vanish'd hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!
What is your response to the poem?
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.
Which poetic techniques do you notice?
What is the form of the poem?
Is there an underlying structure to it?
Other notes/questions to raise:
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Building confidence in unseen poetry:
‘Break, break, break’ by Alfred Tennyson
Theme/topic: What is the poem about?
What is the tone of voice?
Although the poet is writing about a person
he has lost, his tone seems to be …
What is your response to the poem?
I can understand that he is feeling very …
but …
Break, break, break
Pick out interesting uses of words and
phrases.
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
The poet chooses very simple words. Many
of them are …
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 O for the touch of a vanish'd 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.
Which poetic techniques do you notice?
He uses repetition a lot, e.g. ‘break, break
break’ and also ‘O, well’ and ‘O Sea’. I also
noticed that …
What is the form of the poem?
It’s in a regular verse pattern which …
Is there an underlying structure to it?
It begins and ends in a similar way. He
writes …
In between …
Other notes / questions to raise:
Is he writing about someone who has died or someone who has left him or gone away?
I also wonder…
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Building confidence in unseen poetry:
‘Break, break, break’ by Alfred Tennyson
The Walk – Thomas Hardy
You did not walk with me
Of late to the hill-top tree
By the gated ways,
As in earlier days;
You were weak and lame,
So you never came,
And I went alone, and I did not mind,
Not thinking of you as left behind.
I walked up there today
Just in the former way;
Surveyed around
The familiar ground
By myself again:
What difference then?
Only that underlying sense
Of the look of a room on returning thence.
Task
Copy and complete the table below to explore similarities and differences between
Tennyson’s ‘Break, break, break’ and Hardy’s ‘The Walk’.
Similarities
Differences
Both are about personal relationships
The tone of ‘The Walk’ is quiet and
and ...
reflective, whereas ‘Break, break, break’ is
…
Both use a setting which is …
‘The Walk’ refers to a shared landscape but
Both use a … rhyme scheme.
Both use language which is …
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‘Break, break, break’ …
The verse form of ‘The Walk’ is … while
that of ‘Break, break, break’ is …
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