3/11/16

English 10
Ajay Mitra
Mr. Rivera
Meter to promote meaning in poetry
Break, break, break by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Had I the Choice by Walt
Whitman are poems, which use similar imagery and both use meter to make their point.
Both poems talk about a frustration in poetry, something that they cannot achieve. Their
use of meter and imagery brings up two different viewpoints. One viewpoint values
nature above all else and puts all fault in poetry on the words and poetic devices, which
can never truly portray nature. The other viewpoint values expressing thoughts above all
else. In this viewpoint, all of the faults in writing poetry come on the writer, and they can
use whatever methods they want to express their thoughts. A study of these two poems
show how these two viewpoints are related and give contrast to each other.
In Break, break, break by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the regular rhythm of a poem is
disrupted because of the irregular meter, which the poem shows. The poem starts with
three stressed syllables but quickly comes away from this pattern with anapests, but it
does not even stick to anapests as it throws in iambs and extrametrical syllables. While
the poem is doing this, it talks about how difficult it is for the writer to express his
thoughts. The meter reinforces this by giving a sense of chaos in the speakers mind
because of all of the poems metrical irregularities. The title of the poem even signifies
this pattern, as the poet breaks the meter so often to express how he thinks.

Had I the Choice by Walt Whitman provides a good contrast to the previous
poem. In this poem, the meter is a very regular iambic with occasional spondees. He too
complains about his inability to say what he truly wants to. He compares great writers to
nature and shows that the writers can never match the beauty of nature. He says that one
waters wave is more beautiful than all of this poetry, and throughout the poem, he
emulates the wave with his meter. The iambs represent the rising and falling of the waves,
with the occasional spondee representing a larger wave coming in. The regular meter is
soothing, but it also shows how words can only mimic nature in Whitmans view.
In contrast to Tennysons irregular protest of meter, Whitman tries to do his best
to show the limitations of meter. Both poems complain about the limitations of words but
it is as if the meter suggests they take two different viewpoints. Tennyson seems to think
that the limitation of words lies with him. This is evidenced by how he does not reference
other poets, and his irregular meter shows how an unexperienced poet (or experienced
poet mimicking an unexperienced poet) can go wrong with meter. All of his troubles are
individual. Whitman is more concerned about the limitation of poems in general. He
brings in Shakespeare and Homer for contrast and still finds that nothing can match
nature. His meter signifies how he cannot conceive of any poem that could match what he
sees. This is the biggest difference between the two poems, Tennysons poem shows how
words can be misused, but he still believes that what he thinks and what he wants to
express, can be expressed, with words. Whitman cannot even think of how a poem could
match natures beauty and believes words are unable to do so.
In Break, break, break the imagery of the sea is used as a mess of white foam
breaking onto stones. This is just in accordance with the poems meter. Another use of the

sea is to show the carefreeness other people, and how they do not have to think so much
to formulate their thoughts in a recognizable manner. Examples of this are the
fishermans boy and the sailor lad. For them, the sea is a rush of words that they can
speak at once, rather than a chaotic mesh, which they have to try to understand. He then
goes on to say that once this knowledge of how chaotic poems can be is given to
someone, they cannot return to their previous state of ignorance because they always
have to think of how to say what they think.
In Had I the Choice, The sea, particularly the wave, is used as an example that
shows how beautiful nature can be. His whole meter is based off the regularity of the
wave, further increasing its value in the poem. Whitman seems to revere the wave, and he
sees it as something that is almost a goal for all writers to be able to emulate it. When he
asks the sea if he can barter all the poetic tools that he has, he shows that all the poetic
tools that can be used are not as useful to him because they can only make very rough
approximations.
Tennyson looks at the sea as something chaotic that adds to his inability to say
what he thinks. Tennyson is likening himself to the sea, and saying that it is not able to
portray what he thinks and can only give rough approximations. Whitman says the
opposite, he can only give rough approximations of the sea. This showcases another
difference between the thoughts of the two poets. Tennyson sees poetry primarily as a
way to express thoughts that cannot be put in any other form. Whitman sees poems as
attempted emulations of nature. These two views conflict in how they value the sea,
whether it is chaotic and tameable, or beautiful and inexplicable. In Tennysons view, the

sea is just a symbol, which can be used to help make a point. In Whitmans view, the sea
is central and is a major focus and goal of all poetry.
The differences of these two viewpoints have been expounded in this paper. There
are also many similarities. Both viewpoints feel intense pressure to achieve their goal, but
neither is able to. The poets would both give everything that they are familiar with to try
being able to express what they want. These two viewpoints also both agree that poetry is
primarily about being able to express something that is inexpressible in other manners.
Ironically, poetry is also not able to express these things, it just comes much closer than
anything else. Although poetry is a very diverse subject, its main aim is to express any
thought that can come to its writers mind.