Compare and Contrast 'Break, Break, Break' and 'Crossing the Bar'.

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Rob Williams

Compare and Contrast ‘Break, Break, Break’

and ‘Crossing the Bar’

        Although the two poems, ‘Break, Break, Break’ and ‘Crossing the Bar’ share a similar major premise, the expression of death through the metaphor of the sea, Tennyson is able to extract two antithetical responses to the subject of death. In ‘Break, Break, Break’, the overwhelming emotions are ones of melancholy, of despair and horror at the thought of death (or rather the death of Hallam). This is unsurprising as Tennyson was writing this poem in 1834, shortly after the death of his best-friend Hallam. His death, along with other problems at the time led to Tennyson writing very pessimistically about life (and death), however it was during this turbulent period in Tennyson’s life that much of his greatest work was written.

In contrast ‘Crossing the Bar’, although discussing his own death, is a poem of acceptance of the inevitability of death. It is not delivered in a melancholic, morose way, but rather is a dignified acknowledgment that death comes to all, and his “one clear call” is approaching. There is, one may suggest, majesty in the simplistic view of death that is expressed in ‘Crossing the Bar’ and it is an analysis of death much preferable to that of ‘Break, Break, Break’. 

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The severity and relentless nature of the poem is expressed immediately in the title and the first line, both ‘Break, Break, Break’. ‘Break’ is a harsh, cold word, and the fact that Tennyson repeats it three times, suggests a relentless monotony that wears one away. The line sentence continues “…On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!”, The effect of the long syllables that are stressed is to slow the line down and emphasise them. This is very heavy, depressive language. The severity of the line is evident if one juxtapositions it with the first line of ‘Crossing the Bar’, ...

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