Gerard
Manley Hopkins relied on his poetry to stretch his mind and reach his deepest
emotions. He exploited the capacity of the English language, to bring his
unique thoughts and perspective to life. Hopkins’ collection displays his
ability to reconstruct and reflect on his past highs and lows.
In the
Petrarchan sonnet, ‘God’s Grandeur’, Hopkins emotions switch between
celebratory and deflated, as he dissects our world, as it is and as it was.
The poem begins with imagery of the natural world, in its purest form. In
the image, God’s presence runs like an electric current under the earth’s
surface, only letting its presence known when reflected, ‘shining from shook foil’.
In an alternative simile, Hopkins compares God’s movement to ‘the ooze of oil’.
In his work, Hopkins uses this underlying force as the instress which slowly
‘gathers to a greatness’ to create wonders in the natural world. Hopkins’ hope
desperately depends on God’s presence. It falters when faced with the idea of
God’s power falling under our society’s wave of pollution and negligence,
but rises again at the end of the poem, when considering the extent of God’s
abilities. He realises that ‘deep down’ in the earth’s core, God is using,
and will continue to use his powers of renewal to save mankind from its
predicted turmoil. The poem closes with a powerful image of God, in the form of
a dove, protecting the world, ‘Over the bent/ World broods with warm breast and
with ah! Bright wings.’ The enjambment and interjected ‘ah!’ convey Hopkins’
excitement at God’s power.
In the
poem, Hopkins demonstrates the fragility of his thoughts. When considering the
idea that God’s presence is not enough to save the world, his words become
riddled with anger, disappointment and above all, guilt. He fears that our
recklessness and industrial obsession will cause God’s electric current to
‘flame out’ and feels guilty for playing a part in the same destructive
society. The Lines leading up to the poem’s volta are both grim and powerful.
The assonance in ‘seared’, ‘bleared’ and ‘smeared’ delay the poem, and stress
the reality of his words. Hopkins’ dejected mindset shines through his
repetition of how past generations ‘have trod’, indicating how disrespectfully
mankind has treated its environment. Clearly, without God and God’s creations,
Hopkins foresees no light at the end of his tunnel of despair.
Likewise,
the complexity of ‘Inversnaid’ allows Hopkins to momentarily reflect on moments
of mental turmoil in a poem mainly associated with beauty and admiration. The
poem focuses on the destructive, yet beautiful nature found in the Scottish
Highlands. Through inscape he captures the raw power and aggression of a
flowing stream. The overwhelming nature of the river, and its power, reflect
the impression nature has on Hopkins, and the ‘dizzying’ effect of his
admiration. The poem begins with a powerful image, comparing the stream to a
galloping horse, with a wild ‘brown’ mane. He describes the destructive,
‘roaring’ path of the horse as it rushes over any rocks in its path, ‘In
coop and in comb’. Hopkins uses a compound word, “darksome”, to capture the
inscape of the river, and to add to the sprung rhythm of the poem, by stressing
the first syllable; ‘dark’.The onomatopoeic ‘rollrock’ and alliteration in ‘the
fleece of his foam ’ lend force to the stream. Hopkins uses Scottish dialect to
rightfully compliment the nature surrounding him, ‘And the beadbonny ash that sits
over the burn’. Hopkins uses his technical dexterity to describe the source of
his delight, whilst also indicating the overwhelming effect of this delight on
him.
However,
in the midst of his amazement, Hopkins touches on a more sombre tone. In stanza
two, imagery of the surrounding pockets of water highlight Hopkins’ deeper
emotions. He focuses on the water’s delicate movements by constructing a new
verb, ‘twindle’. This intricate imagery unmasks many of the darker emotions
nestling at the back of his mind. He views himself as the isolated ‘pitchblack’
pool of water, lying halfway between God and mankind. He ‘twindles’ or divides
himself between the two, but ultimately separates himself from everything. His
lack of loyalty to both renders him sinister and ultimately useless. ‘It round
and rounds Despair to drowning.’ The repetition and alliteration highlight the
longevity of his depression, and the futility of his actions. His movements
only move him from ‘Despair to drowning’. The capitalization of ‘Despair’
confirms his state of mind. This fearful tone creeps back into the poem in the
final stanza. Hopkins’ environmentalist mind fears for the future of the nature
he admires. He uses assonance to stress this worried tone. ‘Let them be left’. He
pleads with the reader and mankind, to withdraw from our selfish habits and
protect the ‘wet and wildness’ he adores and envies. Whilst ‘Inversnaid’ was
created to reflect Hopkins’ adoration for the environment, it also reflects
many of Hopkins’ darkest thoughts.
Contrastingly,
‘Pied Beauty’ displays Hopkins’ emotions in a clear and concise manner.
Focusing only on his overall joy, Hopkins reveals the source of his contentment
in the opening lines. ‘Glory be to God for dappled things-’. His emotions
remain fixed as he offers the reader a multitude of delightful images of God’s
diverse creations. He describes a selection of everything on the earth’s
surface, from the ‘plotted and pierced’ landscapes, to the colourful skies and
the patterned fish. Although he marvels in their attraction, he also takes
their spiritual value into consideration. The neologism of ‘Fresh-firecoal
chestnut-falls’ creates an image of an object of inner beauty, rather than
exterior. Although the lines contain metaphors, ‘rose-moles’, and similes; ‘as
a brinded cow’, Hopkins doesn't over complicate his words, and maintains a set
structure from start to finish. The poem’s symmetry lies in the parallelism of
the beginning and end. Hopkins opens and concludes the poem by honouring the
main source of his praise, God.
‘Pied Beauty’
is as explosive as it is short. Hopkins chooses to inscape God’s creations
through their movements and transience. The chestnut falls, the trout swims,
the finches fly. The landscape, although ‘plotted and pierced’ by man, still
falls under God’s instress. The final lines reveal however that God is the sole
element known that doesn’t change. ‘He fathers-forth whose beauty is past
change’. This comparison between God and his creations strengthens his overall
picture, placing him in the highest seat of authority. The use of movement in
the poem adds energy to the lines, and connects and binds all of the otherwise
inharmonious descriptions. The ‘pied beauty’, united by God’s instress, is
worthy of Hopkins’ admiration. Hopkins’ pleasure is both demanding and
immediate. His large lists of the natural wonders and their qualities are both
speedy and full of alliteration. ‘Fickle freckled’, ‘sweet, sour’. Without a
doubt, the clarity and energy of the poem captures the dazzling pleasure
Hopkins has experienced.
As we
have seen, Hopkins’ mental stability is extremely dependent on God. His
positivity dips whenever he is forced to confront the possibility of God’s
demise or absence. Hopkins fell into the darkest period of his life, when he
himself began to argue with his deity. One exhibition of his depressed state of
mind during these periods is ‘Thou art indeed just, Lord’. The poem poses an
ancient question, and opens with a Latin epigraph from the Old Testament
prophet, Jeremiah. Both Jeremiah and Hopkins are torn between their commitment
to God and their individual lack of accomplishments. Hopkins bluntly speaks to
God, with repetition of ‘Lord’ and ‘Thou’, alongside an array of rhetorical
questions. ‘Why do sinners’ way prosper?’ Hopkins, although angry and deflated,
cautiously poses his questions, and uses punctuation to rein in his emotions.
His use of consonance ,however, reveals his true bitterness. ‘Hours more thrive
than I that spend’. He compares his life to drunkards, ‘sots’ and
‘thralls of lust’, claiming that they prosper more from a few ‘spare’ hours
than Hopkins does with his complete devotion to God. The contrast between
‘spend’ and ‘spare’ exaggerates this overall comparison.
As the
poem continues, Hopkins turns his eye to nature, calling his god to look at it
and see the contrast between its life and growth and the barren existence that
he is suffering. His desperation grows, and he begins to use punctuation to
showcase his emotions, rather than suppress them. ‘See, banks and brakes/ Now
leavèd how thick!’ His use of exclamation marks and enjambment reflect his
increasing loss of composure. Hopkins visualises green plants growing, trees
leafing out, and birds building nests. This natural imagery serves to prove his
own lack of creation. He is unable to contribute to the life and growth he
constantly marvels over. He compares himself to a barren slave of time; ‘Time’s
eunuch’. His use of syntax forces a separation between himself and the
natural world. ‘birds build-but not I build;no,but strain’. Hopkins ends
his string of complaints on an anguished prayer. ‘O thou lord of life, send my
roots rain.’ With this heartbreaking metaphor he compares himself to a plant,
on the verge of perishing from drought. He begs God to send him some spiritual
nourishment and relieve him from his empty, sterile existence. Hopkins’ state
of mind is pitiful. He considers his existence as an ongoing labour, rather
than real living.
Hopkins’
bliss derives from the beauty which surrounds him. In many of his poems he is
overwhelmed by nature, and depends on inscape, instress and neologism to
capture it. Through his love for God, and all of his creations he has reached
the highest peaks of joy. This devotion has also led him into pits of
depression and desperation. He himself feels useless in comparison to many of
God’s creations, and feels ashamed to be associated with the mankind which
threatens to destroy them. Even when at the peak of his delight, he is unable
to mask these dark emotions rooted inside of him. These contrasting emotional
states have added depth and accessibility to Hopkins’ timeless work.
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