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.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker mourns the loss of a past day's beauty, comparing it to the relentless waves that cannot bring back the dead past.
- In plain terms
- Nature keeps moving forward, but the beautiful moments we lost are gone forever.
- What can you take from it?
- Accept that some beautiful moments are permanently lost to time.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What day of your life do you wish could return?
- How do you cope with irreversible change?
Another view
The quote assumes the past was uniformly tender, which may not be true.
More from Alfred (Lord) Tennyson
Break, break, break, On thy cold gray stones, O Sea! And I would that my tongue could utter The thoughts that arise in me.
Permalink to quote #23 He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ring'd with the azure world, he stands. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watche…
Permalink to quote #25 Then some one spake: 'Behold! it was a crime Of sense avenged by sense that wore with time.' Another said: 'The crime of sense became The crime of malice, and …
Permalink to quote #22
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