Lyric Poem · Grief
Break, Break, Break
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1842
Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
O well for the fisherman's boy,
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay!
And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!
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.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Break, Break, Break” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson — quilloak.com/poems/break-break-break
Quick facts
- Poem
- Break, Break, Break
- Poet
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- Published
- 1842
- Length
- 16 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Grief, Sad
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 16 lines · 4 quatrains
- End rhyme
- ABCB in every stanza — ballad rhyme — only lines 2 and 4 chime.
- Refrain
- “Break, break, break,”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson1809–1892
- Source record
- WikisourceBreak, Break, Break by alfred-lord-tennyson, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1842
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 64bb9272d9ffdef7…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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