Bronte was the middle on of three famous sisters (Charlotte and Anne). She also had a brother, Branwell. The family lived an isolated life on the Yorkshire moors – private and reclusive. This isolation, the closeness of the sisters and their brother, and the wild beauty of their surroundings influenced and inspired them. They lived innmensely imaginative lives, creating fantasy worlds, Gondal and Angria for which they wrote stories and poems, ‘Remembrance’ is one of these poems. This Historical context allows the reader to learn that Bronte wasn’t actually writing this poem based on the memory of her loved one; instead she based it on the fictional memory of someone from her fantasy worlds. This really puts a spin on the poem and it allows the reader to see just how amazing Bronte was as a poet, that she could write such powerful words which weren’t even based on a true memory!
In contrast, Tennyson’s poem is based on a real memory, the death of his friend. While Tennyson was at Cambridge he met Arthur Hallam, who was to become his closest friend. Hallam’s death, whilst travelling abroad, was a most devastating blow to Tennyson. This loss was the trigger for many of his most significant poems and ‘Break, Break, Break’ could arguably be one of these poems. Even though Bronte’s heartfelt poem is based on a fictional memory, this doesn’t make it superior to ‘Break, Break, Break,’ in fact it is hard to contrast the superiority of these two poems as they are different to each other in many ways, the poets each have a different style of writing and a different way of expressing their thoughts, or in Tennyson’s case, trying to overcome the difficulty of expressing his grief.
Both poets have used poetic features to display their memories in their words. These poems are similar in the fact that the poets have chosen to express their memories in the form of a lyrical poem. ‘Remembrance’ can also be called a lament as Bronte is reflecting on the memory of the death of her loved one, and it is written in eight for line verses. This poem has a clearly defined structure and it lets the reader see that Bronte had no problem in expressing her feelings on her imaginative memory. Her memory didn’t have to be real to allow her to convey the emotion which she knew her character would be feeling, she used empathy and wrote her poem through the feelings of her fictional character. ‘Break, Break, Break’ is a short, sad lyrical poem. It represents a brief but important moment in time for the poet and demonstrates a circularity of form by beginning and ending with despair, as represented by the remorseless breaking of the sea on ‘cold gray stones’ in verse one and again on the ‘crags’ in verse four. Each stanza consists of four lines, the first and last verses opening with the same words.
The tone of ‘Remembrance’ is at first questioning, then doubting, then certain and then passionately resolved. In the first two stanzas, Bronte questions not her love for her loved one but the fact that has she forgotten to love him? She has moved on and now when she is alone, her ‘thoughts no longer hover’ on the place where her loved one is buried, she no longer thinks of love now. It has been fifteen years since he died and now the memory of him has come back to her, even after all this time, after all the ‘change and suffering.’ Bronte doubts her memories after fifteen years and with time she has forgotten her loved one. But she says, ‘forgive if I forget thee,’ she justifies why she has moved on, ‘other desires and other hopes beset me’ but she says they don’t lessen her love for him. Bronte was certain that all her life’s happiness was gone, ‘no second morn has ever shone for me’ she knew no happiness without her love. All her happiness came from her love being alive and now that he is dead, all her ‘life’s bliss is in the grave’ with him. But she goes on to say that when grief did not kill her, she realised she could function and carry on ‘without the aid of joy.’ In the last two stanzas, Bronte is resolved. She controlled her despair and decided to get on with her life. Repetition of the words ‘dare not’ shows her true feelings could threaten her life. It is made clear that she has not forgotten her love, but instead chooses to not think about him as she knows that if she thinks of him, it could bring about her death.
Throughout the whole poem, the mood is one of despair and grief as although she has chosen to move on with her life, the fact that her loved one is dead will always remain with her until she dies.
The tone of ‘Break, Break, Break’ is a dejected, bitter one. Tennyson regrets the loss of his close friend. There is also a cynical tone in the reference to young people like the ‘fisherman’s boy’ and how he ‘shouts with his sister at play’ and the ‘sailor lad,’ who ‘sings in his boat on the bay.’ Their lives are untroubled and they haven’t tasted loss. It’s all right for them says Tennyson implying that their time will come. Tennyson is bitter that his friend was snatched away; he is angry that no one else seems to feel his loss or is of no comfort to him. No one else shares his memories of his friend. It would seem that he wants other people to feel the way he does, to feel dejected and realise that for now there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Dejection and deep inner unhappiness suggests a mood of despair, and the last two lines could be interpreted as meaning that the poet is ready to accept the reality of his situation.
The rhyme scheme throughout ‘Remembrance’ is regular, its ABAB, CDCD etc. It has the regular beat of a hymn, with the emphasis tending to fall at the beginning and half way through each line. Since it has the regular beat of a hymn, we could assume it is like a funeral hymn as Bronte is thinking of her memory of her love for one who is dead. In ‘Break, Break, Break’ the lines beginning in the first and last stanza with their regular rhythm and repetition, echo the relentless pounding of waves on a stony beach. The simple metre in the other lines conveys the slowness of time and the graveness of the poet’s situation. The rhyme scheme is ABCB and full rhymes are used, suggesting the poet has tight control of the memory of his friend.
In ‘Remembrance’ there is a great deal of repetition – ‘cold,’ ‘severed,’ ‘forget,’ ‘hopes,’ ‘my life’s bliss’ – to emphasize the effect the memory of death has on the speaker. The bird metaphor in stanza two reflects the flightiness and the inconstancy of the human thought, this also includes memories, so is this why the poet, over the period of time, hasn’t remembered the memory of her loved one? The change in tense in the second half of the poem heralds a change of thought and tone and answers the query raised. She does remember, only too well. ‘Fifteen wile Decembers’ have not succeeded in dulling the ‘rapturous pain’ of memory. The hard, unfeeling words of the first half of the poem, expressing the coldness of grief, give way in the second half to softer, hymn-like words such as ‘bliss,’ ‘golden,’ ‘cherished.’ These words inject the poem with a passion, which reflects the depth of her emotions when she allows herself the luxury of remembrance.
The title and opening line, ‘Break, Break, Break’ with its repetition and pauses, echoes the crash of the waves on the shore, but the words could have other meanings in the circumstances, such as being a reference to the poet’s own heart that is broken over the memory of his friend’s death. Alliteration is used to describe the ‘stately ships’ passing on their way to their ‘haven beyond the hill.’ The distraction f such a splendid sight brings on reaction from Tennyson and he returns to his inner distress. The circular pattern brings the poet back to where he started, staring at the waves breaking on the crags. The choice of this word and the use of ‘cold’ and ‘grey’ in verse one, conveys the misery of the occasion and makes an appeal to the senses of seeing, hearing and feeling, bringing the reader into the world of the poet.
I loved both these poems for different reasons. I loved ‘Remembrance for the fact that Bronte is writing this poem based on a fictional memory. It amazes me that she can have such emotion and passion for someone who has died but never really lived. It shows that she has mastered the control of empathy. I feel that as the reader I can relate to the speaker’s emotions portrayed in the poem, as we will all eventually experience or suffer loss of some kind in our lives. This thought then provokes the question, ‘is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?’ I also love ‘Break, Break, Break’ as Tennyson reveals why he has been described as ‘the saddest of all English poets.’ I can appreciate this poem as the blunt, unadorned statements made in the poem show how drab, colourless and meaningless Tennyson’s life has become. I love the way the lasting image of this poem is the cold relentlessness of a grey sea and although an example of pathetic fallacy, it is one that stays with me.
