3. Brook is a poem written by Alfred Lord
Tennyson.
In this poem, the brook refers itself to a living
being. This is called personification. The word
'I' explains it.
The brook suddenly emerges from a place
frequently visited by coots and herons. It falls
down a valley making a quarrelling noise. The
poet uses numerical references like 'thirty
hills', 'twenty thorpes' & ' half hundred
bridges'. The brook joins the brimming river at
Philip's farm. The line 'For men may come and
men may go, but I go on forever' explains the
brook is immortal as it goes on forever. Also
4. The brook makes a chattering noise as it
passes over stony ways and in little sharps
and trebles it bubbles into eddying bays. The
brook's bank passes through many curves
and fields along weeds and other plants. The
river keeps chattering in order to meet the
brimming river. It carries many things like
blossoms, lusty trout, grayling, foamy flakes,
forget me not etc..
The brooks gently crosses the lawn and
grassy plots and slides by hazel covers. It
moves by the sweet forget me not that grow
for happy lovers (The flowers are so lovely
that people give it to their lovers so that they
5. The river does many actions. It slips, slides,
glooms, glances. The swallows ( a kind of bird)
skim through the top of the brook and the water
makes the sunbeam dance by acting as nets
against it's sandy shallows.
While passing through thorny bushes, the brooks
murmurs (human comparison-the brook
complains) about passing the scary thorny
poisonous bushes. But when it surfaces the
shingly bars (pebbles), it loiters(human
comparison- it stays there for some time) round
the cresses.
And finally the brook winds around the curves to
flow into the brimming river. Still it remained
immortal after passing through thorns and
venomous bushes.
6. Read the following extract carefully and
answer the questions that follow by
choosing the most appropriate
alternative from those given below :
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,
(a)Describe the movement of the brook
as depicted in line 1.
(i) Line 1 shows the spiral movement of
water.
(ii) The brook flows around the
obstruction on its way.
(iii) And then flows along its path.
(iv) all of the above
7. (b) What all does the
brook carry as it moves
along ?
(i) flowers blossom
(ii) the lusty trout and
grayling
(iii) foamy flakes
(iv) all of the above
8. On the basis of your
understanding of the poem 'The
Brook', answer the following
questions by ticking the correct
choice.
(a)The poet draws a parallelism
between the journey of the book
and
(i) the life of a man
(ii) the death of man
(iii) the difficulties in a man's life
(iv) the endless talking of human
being
9. I come from haunts of coot and
hern; I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.
(a) ‘I’ in the stanza stands for
(i) the poet.
(ii) the valley.
(iii) the brook,
(iv) a shepherd.
10. (b) According to the stanza, the
brook originates from
(i) the mountains.
(ii) the river.
(iii) the sea.
(iv) the place visited by sea
birds.
(c) Which one of the following
expressions used in the stanza
shows that the brook is noisy ?
(i) haunts of coots and herons
(ii) sudden sally
(iii) sparkle out
(iv) bicker down a valley
11. (c) The rhyme scheme of
the poem is
(i) ab ab cc.
(ii) aa bb cc.
(iii) ab ab.
(iv) abed abed.
12. QUESTION – ANSWER
Question: Where does the brook begin?
Answer: Place frequented by coots and herns.
Question: Which is the last place to be visited by the brook?
Answer: Philip's farm is the last place to be visited by the brook.
Question: When is the brook specially noisy?
Answer: When it flows over stones.
13. QUESTION – ANSWER
Question: Why is the water described as silvery?
Answer: The sun shines on the water making it sparkle like
white silver.
14. POETIC DEVICES USED IN THE POEM
These terms are known as figures of speech.
•Refrain is the repetition of a word or a phrase. For
example, 'For men may come and men may go'.
•Alliteration is the repetition of the initial consonant
sound. For example, 'I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance'.
•Onomatopoeia is a figure of speech that
represents the sound associated with an object. For
example, 'babble'.
15. POETIC DEVICES USED IN THE POEM
•Repetition means the repetition of a word, a phrase or
a clause to emphasise on a point. For example,
'chatter,chatter'.
•Imagery is a description which evokes readers senses
of sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. Metaphors and
similes are also considered as imagery. For example, "I
babble on the pebbles".
•Personification is a literary device that assigns human
qualities to inanimate and abstract things. For example,
"I make the netted sunbeam dance".
