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
Imagery and symbolism in The Sea and the Skylark
The second quatrain centres on the skylark, one of a number of birds Hopkins' attention is drawn to in his poetry (falcons and thrushes are two other examples). On his left hand lie the sand dunes, over which the lark is soaring. The imagery seeks to convert sound into sight, as we are asked to see the bird's song as a musical score, pouring out of its throat, then falling like a fisherman's line reeling out. It is not a straight line as there are kinks in it where the line has been pressed into the reel. Each kink represents a bar-line. And the line is being rewound on to another reel, which the bird will take when he swoops downwards, so he can begin again. Such a complicated image is often called a conceit. The word ‘re-winded' is a play on words, as a fisherman rewinds the reel, but also an instrument is winded or played, as in ‘winding a horn'.
Investigating The Sea and the Skylark
- ‘Trench'(l.2) means 'to make a deep impression on'.
- What lines or images or ideas in the poem have made a deep impression on you?
- Some of the metre of the poem is very regular and smooth; other lines are very emphatic, having extra stressed syllables.
- Can you scan ll.4 and 14 and see this?
- Why is Hopkins so emphatic?
- Are there other heavily-stressed lines that you can hear as you read the poem?
- Do you think Hopkins is making too big a jump between octave and sestet?
- Is he too ready to ‘preach', or has he laid the foundation of his thought sufficiently in the octave?
1. Imitation, copy, likeness, statue, picture in literature, art or imagination.
2. A figure of speech in which a person or object or happening is described in terms of some other person, object or action (i.e. as a metaphor or simile)
An image that seems far-fetched or bizarre, but which is cleverly worked out so that the reader can understand the link.
The particular measurement in a line of poetry, determined by the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (in some languages, the pattern of long and short syllables). It is the measured basis of rhythm.
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
To measure the metre of verse, by determining the patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables, and the length of each line.
Related material
Scan and go
Scan on your mobile for direct link.