Break, break, [break,]1 On [thy]2 cold grey stones, O Sea! And I would that my tongue could utter The thoughts that arise in me. [O]3 well for the fisherman's boy, That he shouts [with]4 his sister at play! [O]3 well for the sailor lad, That he sings in his boat on the bay! And the stately ships [go]5 on To their haven under the hill; But O for the touch of a [vanish'd]6 hand, And the sound of a voice that is still! Break, break, [break,]1 At the foot of thy crags, O Sea! But the tender grace of a day that is dead Will never come back to me.
Six Sea Songs
Song Cycle by Eric Harding Thiman (1900 - 1975)
?. Break, break, break  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Text Authorship:
- by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), no title, appears in Poems, Volume II, first published 1842
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View original text (without footnotes)Poet's note: "Made in a Lincolnshire lane at five o'clock in the morning, between blossoming hedges." Written in memory of Tennyson's friend Arthur Hallam (d. 1833).
1 Végh: "o sea, o sea"2 Manning: "the"
3 Manning: "Ah"
4 Manning: "to"
5 Manning: "sail"
6 Végh: "vanished"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
?. To sea! To sea!  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
To sea, to sea! The calm is o'er; The wanton water leaps in sport, And rattles down the pebbly shore; The dolphin wheels, the sea-cows snort, And unseen Mermaids' pearly song Comes bubbling up, the weeds among. Fling broad the sail, dip deep the oar: To sea, to sea! the calm is o'er. To sea, to sea! our wide-wing'd bark Shall billowy cleave its sunny way, And with its shadow, fleet and dark, Break the cav'd Tritons' azure day, Like mighty eagle soaring light O'er antelopes on Alpine height. The anchor heaves, the ship swings free, The sails swell full. To sea, to sea!
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803 - 1849), no title, appears in Death's Jest Book or The Fool's Tragedy, first published 1850
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]Total word count: 214