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 Hurrahing in Harvest
Sonnet structure
There are so many features of patterning, that it is impossible to list them all. The rhyme pattern and basic sonnet structure are Petrarchan, with each quatrain of the octave ending in a question, though the first question is a rhetorical one. This is in line with the Petrarchan tradition, where the octave question is met with the sestet answer. However, it is not really an answer: only a development of the philosophy underneath the perceptions of the octave.
Scansion
The lines are basically iambic pentameter:
- some lines are slightly shorter (unusually so), as in l.12
- a number are longer (more typically), as in ll.1,8,14
Using Hopkins' theory of sprung rhythm, it is possible to scan the other lines with five feet:
- 1.9 has stresses on ‘-jest-','stall-','stal-','vi-', and ‘sweet'
- Hopkins counted the ‘-wart' as an outrider (i.e. as extra and not to be counted in the scansion), suggesting that after an outrider, you should take a pause
- his hyphenating of ‘very-violet-sweet' means all the syllables run together, rather than being seen as three separate words, so ‘very' can be counted as no more than two unstressed syllables, sort of murmured.
There are some dramatic examples of enjambement (run-on lines):
- at the end of l.l: ‘the stooks rise / Around', where the rising is caught in the carried-over rhythm
- in l.8, where the carried over word ‘Majestic' hits us forcibly.
Such carried-over lines help the counterpointing, one rhythm laid on top of another.
Repetition
The other obvious patterning feature is the use of repetition, mainly of individual words but sometimes phrases:
- in l.1 ‘now; now', the immediacy of the scene is dramatically conveyed
- ‘l lift up, I lift up' and ‘These things, these things' suggest emphatic speech rather than lyrical.
It is once again the sheer energy of the sonnet, its real excitement, that dictates such word usage.
Investigating Hurrahing in Harvest
- See if you can scan 11.4,14.
- Try reading 1.9 in various ways, putting stresses where you would expect them to be (as opposed to where Hopkins might have placed them), and putting pauses where you think best.
- What seems to you the better reading?
- Try reading the poem dramatically; then lyrically (i.e. with a much smoother, more regular rhythm).
- Which do you prefer?
- Find two other examples of enjambement.
- Can you see what effect they have on both the rhythm and the emphasis of the poem?
In the style of Petrarch, an Italian poet of the sixteenth century, who created both a form of the sonnet and presented a courtly ideal of womanhood.
A line containing five metrical feet each consisting of one stressed and one unstressed syllable.
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.
To measure the metre of verse, by determining the patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables, and the length of each line.
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 term coined by Gerard Manley Hopkins to denote a syllable or group of syllables not to be counted in the scansion. Also called hangers.
Measuring the metre of verse, by determining the patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables, and the length of each line.
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.
In music, the playing of two tunes at the same time, allowing them to interweave. In poetry, the use of two rhythms at the same time, for example, one being based on the metre, and one on the grammatical structure of the sentence.
Song-like.
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