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
Structure and versification in Binsey Poplars
The poem is in an unusual form for Hopkins, the lyric. It is songlike, with sprung rhythm and fairly free verse. Each stanza has eight lines, but line lengths vary from dimeters to hexameters. Some lines are regular, as l.1, which is an iambic pentameter; some are very irregular, as l.8, which tries to recapture the winding motion of the river. It could be scanned as either five or six stresses, depending on whether the compound epithets are given two half-stresses or two full stresses. Generally the metre is rising, but l.2 is more falling or trochaic. There is a scattering of spondees to give extra emphasis, as in l.3.
Investigating Binsey Poplars
- Study the repetitions in the poem.
- Why are certain words repeated a number of times?
- Also look at the internal rhymes and the examples of assonance, which are types of repetition.
- What effects does Hopkins gain through them?
- Can you understand the sense of 1.4?
- Did you know a scene which has been recently destroyed?
- What were your feelings on seeing the destruction?
- Do Hopkins' thoughts echo yours at all?
The words of a song
A term given by Gerard Manley Hopkins to his versification. It does have a regular basic metre, but contains additional feet or outriders and other planned irregularities.
Verse which has no regular scansion; its structure being formed by the thought and imagery alone.
A verse consisting of two measures, that is containing either two or four feet.
A line of poetry containing six feet or stresses (beats).
A line containing five metrical feet each consisting of one stressed and one unstressed syllable.
In all languages, some syllables are pronounced with more of an emphasis than others. In poetry of many languages, this becomes a significant means of patterning. The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables within a line of verse is called its
A combination of basic elements. A compound word is made up of two or more separate words.
Use of a metric foot in a line of verse, consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed. It is thus a falling metre.
A unit of metre, being a foot of two long, or stressed, syllables.
Rhyme which occurs within a single line of verse, rather than between lines.
A device similar to alliteration but where the vowel sound in a word is repeated and thus emphasised ' e.g. 'burnt and purged'.
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