3.4 The Brook
Complete textbook exercise solutions — Maharashtra State Board (Balbharati), Grade Seven English.
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Reference: The solutions below are based on the poem "The Brook" by Alfred Lord Tennyson found in the provided document[cite: 17].
This is an oral reading activity. Students should read the poem aloud in class, paying attention to the continuous, flowing rhythm that mimics the movement of the brook[cite: 17].
- ridges: long, narrow hilltops or mountain ranges[cite: 17].
- brimming: full to the brim or top, ready to overflow[cite: 17].
- eddying: moving in a circular way, like water swirling in a whirlpool[cite: 17].
- babble: to make a continuous low, murmuring sound (like water flowing continuously over stones)[cite: 17].
- fallow: agricultural land that is left unplanted or uncultivated for a period of time[cite: 17].
- trout: a common freshwater fish[cite: 17].
- netted: covered with a net-like pattern (as in 'netted sunbeam' caused by light passing through leaves and reflecting off moving water)[cite: 17].
(1) Who is the speaker in this poem?[cite: 17]
The speaker in the poem is the brook itself[cite: 17].
(2) Which lines are repeated in the poem? What do they mean?[cite: 17]
The lines repeated in the poem are: "For men may come and men may go, / But I go on for ever."[cite: 17]
They mean that human life is short and temporary, but nature (the brook) is eternal and continues its journey endlessly[cite: 17].
(3) Where does the brook join the river?[cite: 17]
The brook joins the brimming river by Philip's farm[cite: 17].
(4) Mention the various places that the brook flows past.[cite: 17]
The brook flows past haunts of coot and hern, ferns, down a valley, by thirty hills, between ridges, by twenty thorpes (villages), a little town, half a hundred bridges, Philip's farm, stony ways, eddying bays, pebbly beds, fields and fallows, fairy forelands, sandy shallows, and brambly wildernesses[cite: 17].
(5) Often the brook speaks of itself as if it is human. For example, 'I bicker down a valley.' Find two other examples of the human activities of the brook.[cite: 17]
Two other examples of the brook's human-like activities are:
- "I chatter over stony ways" / "I chatter, chatter, as I flow"[cite: 17]
- "I murmur under moon and stars"[cite: 17]
Other acceptable examples include "I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance" or "I loiter round my cresses"[cite: 17].
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Three examples of alliterative phrases from the poem are:
- "sudden sally" (repetition of the 's' sound)[cite: 17]
- "fairy foreland" (repetition of the 'f' sound)[cite: 17]
- "willow-weed" (repetition of the 'w' sound)[cite: 17]
Other examples you can write are: "golden gravel", "skimming swallows", or "I slip, I slide"[cite: 17].
The prepositions found in the poem are: from, of, out, among, down, by, between, to, for, over, in, into, on, with, upon, against, under, and round[cite: 17].
The phrases in the poem containing 'many a' are:
- "With many a curve my banks I fret"[cite: 17]
- "By many a field and fallow"[cite: 17]
- "And many a fairy foreland set"[cite: 17]
- "With many a silvery waterbreak"[cite: 17]
Three lines from the poem that create strong visual images are:
- "I make the netted sunbeam dance / Against my sandy shallows."[cite: 17]
- "And here and there a foamy flake / Upon me, as I travel"[cite: 17]
- "With many a silvery waterbreak / Above the golden gravel"[cite: 17]
I am a little brook, born high up in the cool, misty mountains where the wild waterbirds build their nests. My journey begins as a tiny trickle of clear, cold water melting from the winter snow. I love to rush and play, sparkling brightly as I suddenly flow out from among the green ferns and mossy rocks. As I grow stronger, I hurry down the hills and slip gracefully between the mountain ridges, chatting happily over the stony pathways.
As I travel downwards into the valley, my life is full of wonderful sights. I flow past sleepy little villages, half a hundred stone bridges, and wide, empty fields. Little silver fish, like trout and grayling, swim in my cool waters, and colorful blossoms drop from the trees to sail upon my surface like tiny boats. I make happy, bubbling sounds when I hit the pebbles, and I gently murmur when the moon and stars shine above my brambly wilderness.
Swallows skim my surface, and I catch the sunlight, making a dancing, net-like pattern on the sandy bottom. Finally, after a long and exciting journey full of twists and turns, I reach a great, brimming river near a large farm. I join the river, mixing my waters with its mighty flow towards the sea. Generations of human beings will be born, grow old, and pass away, but my joyful journey from the mountains to the river will continue forever.
Other things in nature that outlive human beings and can make this statement include the sun, the moon, the stars, the oceans, the mountains, the wind, and the earth itself.
This is a research and creative activity. Students can look up famous nature poems like William Wordsworth's "Daffodils" or Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", and collect or draw pictures of streams, valleys, and forests[cite: 17].