Structure and versification in St. Alphonsus Rodriguez
The sestet is more difficult, mainly through the sparcity of punctuation. The last four lines have none, except for a parenthesis. Otherwise, the versification is relatively straightforward. Hopkins has turned back to a disciplined and regular sonnet form of iambic pentameters after his recent efforts to expand it (see That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire). In fact some lines barely have five stressed syllables (e.g. ll.4, 5, 14). Others have shared stresses, such as ‘gashed flesh', ‘galled shield' or ‘tall trees'.
The rhyming of the sestet is orthodox, dividing it into two tercets in a barely noticeable way. We notice some typical Hopkins diction: ‘gashed', ‘galled', ‘hurtle'. The rhythm of the last line catches exactly the rhythm of Milton's sonnet's last line quoted above.
Investigating St. Alphonsus Rodriguez
- How much do you know about how the Catholic church makes saints?
- Do we, as a society, give honours to apparently insignificant people?
- Pick out phrases that contrast human and divine perspectives.
A detached explanatory passage inserted into a sentence, usually within brackets; an aside.
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 3-line unit of verse, usually forming part of a sestet. Sometimes it rhymes within itself, sometimes it has the same rhyme scheme as a following tercet.
The choice of words a poet makes; his vocabulary and any special features of it.
The musical effect of the repetition of stresses or beats, and the speed or tempo at which these may be read.
1. Sometimes used to denote all Christians
2. Used specifically of the Roman Catholic church.
In the New Testament the term is used of all Christians but gradually came to describe an especially holy person.
