Gerard Manley Hopkins, selected poems Contents
- As Kingfishers Catch Fire
- Binsey Poplars
- The Blessed Virgin Mary Compared to the Air We Breathe
- Carrion Comfort
- Duns Scotus' Oxford
- God's Grandeur
- Harry Ploughman
- Henry Purcell
- Hurrahing in Harvest
- Inversnaid
- I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark
- Synopsis of I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark
- Commentary on I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark
- Language and tone in I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark
- Structure and versification in I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark
- Imagery and symbolism in I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark
- Themes in I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark
- The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo
- Synopsis of The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo
- Commentary on The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo
- Language and tone in The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo
- Structure and versification in The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo
- Imagery and symbolism in The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo
- Themes in The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo
- The May Magnificat
- My Own Heart, Let Me Have More Pity On
- Synopsis of My Own Heart, Let Me Have More Pity On
- Commentary on My Own Heart, Let Me Have More Pity On
- Language and tone in My Own Heart, Let Me Have More Pity On
- Structure and versification in My Own Heart, Let Me Have More Pity On
- Imagery and symbolism in My Own Heart, Let Me Have More Pity On
- Themes in My Own Heart, Let Me Have More Pity On
- No Worst, There is None
- Patience, Hard Thing!
- Pied Beauty
- The Sea and the Skylark
- Spelt from Sibyl's Leaves
- Spring
- Spring and Fall
- St. Alphonsus Rodriguez
- The Starlight Night
- That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection
- Synopsis of That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire
- Commentary on That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire
- Language and tone in That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire
- Structure and versification in That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire
- Imagery and symbolism in That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire
- Themes in That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire
- Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord
- Tom's Garland
- To Seem the Stranger
- To What Serves Mortal Beauty
- The Windhover
- The Wreck of the Deutschland
- Beauty and its purpose
- The beauty, variety and uniqueness of nature
- Christ's beauty
- Conservation and renewal of nature
- God's sovereignty
- The grace of ordinary life
- Mary as a channel of grace
- Nature as God's book
- Night, the dark night of the soul
- Serving God
- Suffering and faith
- The temptation to despair
- The ugliness of modern life
- Understanding evil in a world God has made
Alliterative patterns in The Wreck of the Deutschland
Hopkins also patterns his work with alliterations and caesurae.
Traditional alliterative patterns
In traditional alliterative verse, there's a set number of alliterating syllables before the mid-line break, or caesura, and a set number after.
Some of the lines in Hopkins' scheme are too short for him to do this, but in the long last lines, that pattern is well established.
- thus, in the last line of stanza 33, the f-alliteration occurs once before a mid-line break, marked by a comma, once after, supplemented by an s-alliteration, exactly the same pattern as in the last line of the next stanza
- by contrast, in stanza 32, the caesura is delayed till near the end of the line, giving greater significance to ‘bodes but abides', where the b-alliteration is very insistent.
Investigating alliterative patterns in The Wreck of the Deutschland
- Take several other last lines.
- See where the caesura comes, and what the alliterative pattern is.
- Now take some of the pentameters (5-stressed lines).
- Can you see a similar pattern or not?
- Hopkins' flexible structure enables whole stanzas to vary greatly, not just individual lines.
- Compare stanza 30 with 31.
- How do the two stanzas contrast?
- How does Hopkins achieve this?
- Look also at the enjambement.
- Compare stanza 30 with 31.
A pause, often indicated in text by a comma or full stop, during a line of blank verse.
A line containing five stressed syllables or feet.
The technique used in blank verse and other verse forms in which the sense of a line runs on without a pause to the next one; this often gives a sense of greater fluency to the lines.
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