central idea of the poem "the brook"
Lord Alfred Tennyson, in his poem, The Brook, presents a comparsion between two important themes--mortality and eternity. This comparison is the central theme of the poem. Mortality, is represented by human life, which has only limited time of existence on earth. This is contrasted by eternity--or the life of the brook, or nature which has been before man was, and will outlive him too. Thus the poet says,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever
Hope thus helps. Best.