I linger by my shingly bars; what does this line means
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Question about this poem?
British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson penned “The Brook” in 1886, just six years before his death. The poem is a ballad in which the speaker—the brook, or stream, itself—undertakes a long and winding journey across the countryside to join up with a large river. Tucked inside this seemingly sweet poem about a little stream are darker, more poignant themes of death, human impermanence, and nature's indifference to humankind, though the poem also emphasizes nature's sheer beauty. The poem’s most notable characteristic is its refrain, “For men may come and men may go, / But I go on for ever,” which appears four times throughout the poem and captures both the fleetingness of human life and the constancy of nature.
You can read the full text of “The Brook” here.
“The Brook” Summary
The speaker of the poem, the brook itself, explains that it started out in a body of water where birds called coot and heron often gather. Suddenly, the brook rushes forward. The sunlight glitters on the water as the brook weaves through greenery that grows beside the stream bank. The brook then flows gently into a valley.
Gaining momentum, the brook tumbles down many hills and seeps through narrow crevices on some of the hillsides. Along the way, the brook passes several villages and a small town, and flows underneath lots of bridges.
Finally, the brook glides past a farm that belongs to a man named Philip. The brook is on its way to be absorbed by the river, which is already huge and overflowing. The brook claims that while humans live short, impermanent lives, the brook itself will always endure.
Picking its journey back up, the brook rushes over stone paths and streets, sounding like music as it flows over the rocks. The brook pools into bays filled with churning water and then tumbles over small stones that line the shore or are at the bottom of the bay.
The brook curves around the stream bank and passes many meadows and plots of farmland, both in use and left to rest, as it travels through the countryside. It also flows alongside land that seems to belong to fairies, its landscape dotted with green leafy plants and delicate blossoms.
Rushing along, the brook makes little trickling noises as it travels to the almost overflowing river. The brook reminds the listener that human life is fleeting, but the brook itself is eternal.
The brook meanders through the countryside, zig zagging across the landscape. It points out a flower drifting along with its waters, a few particularly hearty trout, and some freshwater fish called graylings.
Occasionally, the brook's water bubbles up and foams as it journeys toward the river. The surface of the brook sometimes forms little waves that crash melodically on top of the pebbles and sand down below in the stream bed.
The vigorous brook pulls the pebbles, flower petals, and fish along with it as it rushes to join up with the large river. While humankind's time on earth is short and temporary, the brook will continue to live on with no end in sight.
The brook quietly creeps past meadows and fields carpeted with grass and slips through densely planted hazel trees that shade the landscape. The rippling water nudges wildflowers called forget-me-nots that grow along the stream bank; the brook says these particular wildflowers are meant for people who are blissfully in love.
The brook describes how it moves along quietly, sometimes looking dark and murky. Other times, the light playfully bounces off of the stream (or perhaps the stream bounces off of the riverbank). All the while, birds called swallows barely brush the water's surface as they search for food. The sunlight shines through the foliage that surrounds the stream, casting a woven pattern on the surface of the water; reflecting on a moving surface, the sunlight looks like it is dancing playfully upon the brook's sandy, shallow water.
The water makes low, quiet sounds as it travels during nighttime, flowing past a forest filled with prickly shrubs. The stream slows its pace when it comes to a sandbank heaped with little pebbles and spends another unhurried moment swirling around the leafy greens (such as watercress) that grow in the shallow waters of the stream.
Once again, the brook continues its winding journey to merge with the big river. The brook reminds listeners that although individual humans are born and die, the brook is eternal
If I'm not wrong this is a line from a poem called 'The Brook'.
So here 'linger' means to move on slowly, 'shingly' is a word used to describe a path that is rocky or full of pebbles. And 'bars' here means hurdles created by pebbles.
Hence, The line 'I linger by my shingly bars' in this context is used by the river to tell how sometimes; its speed gets slow when there are some hindrances like rocks and pebbles blocking its way.