The Brook
Extracts
‘I come from haunts of coot and hern;
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.
By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorpes, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.’
a) From where does the Brook emerge?
b) What comparison does the poet make when he uses the term ‘bicker’?
c) Is the journey of the brook an easy one or a difficult one? Give reasons for your
answer.
d) Identify the alliterations in the stanza.
a) The brook emerges from a hill top which is usually visited by water birds like coots
and herns.
b) Bickering refers to petty disputes made among people when they get annoyed.
Here the poet compares the journey of the brook with the journey of human life.
The brook, too bickers or shows its annoyance when it strikes against stones or
pebbles which flowing down through the valley.
c) The journey of brook is not an easy one as it has to cross around a large number of
hills, ridges, villages and towns and hence it has to face a number of obstacles on
its way.
d) Alliteration - sudden sally, twenty thorpes, a little town, half a hundred.
‘Till last by Philip’s farm I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.’
a) What is the final destination that the Brook has to reach?
b) What difference do you find between the Brook and human beings in this stanza?
c) What is the poetic device used in ‘For men may come and men may go, But I go on
for ever.’
a) The brook starts its journey from a hill top but it finally has to go and merge
with an overflowing river near Philip’s farm.
b) The journey of Brook is eternal whereas the life of human beings is transitory.
Men take birth and they die as they are mortals but the brook keeps on flowing
forever.
c) Refrain – The same lines have been repeated various times in the poem.
‘I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.
With many a curve my banks I fret
By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and mallow.’
a) With which stage of human life has the poet compared the journey of the brook?
Give reasons for your answer.
b) What is the most prominent poetic device used in the first 4 lines.
c) Compare the brook with human beings when the poet states –‘ With many a curve
my banks I fret ,By many a field and fallow.’
a) The journey of Brook has been compared with the childhood stage of man as the
poet uses the words – ‘chatter and babble’. A person in his childhood stage is full
of energy and chatters and babbles a lot, similarly the brook after striking with
stones and pebbles emits a lot of high pitch sound.
b) Onomatopoeia- The words ‘chatter’, ‘trebles’, ‘babbles’ and ‘bubble’ all are
associated with sound.
c) Human beings get upset and worried when faced with difficulties. The brook too
has been personified as the poet states that it also frets(gets worried) when it has
to take a lot of curves and flow through barren lands(fallow).
‘I wind about, and in and out,
With here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout ,
And here and there a grayling ,
And here and there a foamy flake
Upon me, as I travel
With many a silvery waterbreak
Above the golden gravel,
And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river.’
a) Explain – ‘I wind about, and in and out’
b) What does the brook carry along when it flows? Is there any similarity between the
brook and human beings?
a) The flow of the brook is guided by the direction of the wind.
b) The brook carries fallen blossoms(flowers), fishes like trout and grayling and golden
gravels(stones) along with it. Yes. Human being are a source of help to each other in
times of difficulties, similarly the brook is a source of help for flowers and fishes as it
keeps them alive when they are in the company of water.
‘I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
That grow for happy lovers.
I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.’
a) With which stage of human life can we compare the journey of brook? Give
reasons for your answer.
b) What makes the poet mention about ‘happy lovers’?
c) What is the poetic device used in –‘ I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, Among my
skimming swallows?’
d) Explain – ‘I make the netted sunbeam dance.’
a) The journey of brook is compared with the old age of human beings. Human beings
do not like to take risks or challenges during their old age and prefer to lead a
peaceful life. The brook too does not chatter or babble any more nor does it
passes through any difficult passages. It prefers to flow through peaceful areas like
‘grassy plots’, where ‘hazels grow’ and where beautiful flowers like ‘forget me
nots’ grow.
b) Happy lovers usually like to sit in serene places and exchange flowers like forget
me nots with each other. The brook is also at that stage of its journey where it
desires serenity.
c) Alliteration.
d) The rays of the sun when passes through a huge thick tree and falls on the brook
get reflected in various directions thus making us understand that the rays are
dancing in the brook.
‘I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses’
a) Why does the poet use the word ‘murmur’ instead of ‘chatter’ or ‘babble’?
b) Point out the words that shows that the movement of the brook has slowed down.
c) What is the most prominent poetic device used in these lines?
a) The poet wants to convey that fact that the brook has reached the final stage of its
journey similar to a human being. Human beings get tired in their old age, their
energy subsides and they seem to be murmuring instead of chattering. Here the
brook also slows down before merging with the overflowing river.
b) ‘Linger’ and ‘Loiter’.
c) Personification – ‘Murmur’, ‘loiter’, ‘linger’ are words that are attributed with
human beings.
DIY QUESTIONS
a) Pick out the lines from the poem that shows the different time of the day.
Compare these time period with stages of human life.
b) Why has the trout been called ‘lusty’?
c) Explain what does the poet want to convey by mentioning about ‘brambly
wildernesses.’
d) Draw out all the similarities between the brook and human beings.
