Question

What is the referain in the poem 'The Brook' ? What effect does it create ?

Answer 1

In his poems, Alfred Lord Tennyson skillfully composes the music of the English language into harmonious verbal melody. His poem "The Brook" extols the talents of the stream that moves from a mountain and meanders through grassy areas, fields of flower, brambles, to the "shingly bars" where it finally joins the river.  While men live and die, the brook survives and "goes on forever," attesting to the infinite power of nature. So, in "The Brook," the refrain is thematic, as well as melodious.