Gerard Manley Hopkins

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THIS IS POETRY Gerard Manley Hopkins Spring Nothing is so beautiful as Spring When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush; Thrush s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush Through the

1 THIS IS POETRY Gerard Manley Hopkins Spring Nothing is so beautiful as Spring When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush; Thrush s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing; The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling. [5] What is all this juice and all this joy? A strain of the earth s sweet being in the beginning In Eden garden. Have, get, before it cloy, [10] Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning, Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy, Most, O maid s child, thy choice and worthy the winning. [2] [2] [2] [3] [4] [4] [11] [12] [12] [13] [14] weeds: Hopkins often uses this term to refer to wildflowers shoot: to sprout, to emerge from the earth lush: fertile, flourishing, rich or luxuriant look: look like, resemble rinse: clean wring: to twist or squeeze (as with a damp cloth) cloy: to become distasteful or sickening cloud: to become cloudy, obscure or unclean sour: to become sour Mayday: The first day of May, traditionally associated with the Virgin Mary maid s child: Jesus, who was born of a maid or virgin 66

2 PRIMARY primary COURSE First Encounter 1. What, according to the poet, compares to the beauty of the springtime? 2. Group Discussion: The poet refers to weeds. What has he got in mind here? Is he using the word weeds in a somewhat unusual sense? 3. In what sense might these weeds resemble wheels? 4. What words capture the freshness and fertility of these plants? 5. What verb captures the energy with which these plants come springing from the soil? 6. According to the poet, the thrush s eggs might resemble tiny little skies ( little low heavens ). Can we imagine how the patterns on their shells might remind the poet of the sky above him? 7. What sound comes echoing through the timbers of the forest? 8. According to the poet, the thrush s singing has a cleansing effect on the ear and mind. What words and phrases does he use to suggest this? 9. What simile does the poet use to indicate the exhilarating effect of the thrush s song? 10. What happens to the pear tree in springtime? 11. Why do you think Hopkins refers to it as glassy? What part or parts of the tree does he have in mind here? 12. How does Hopkins indicate the intense blueness of the sky? 13. Class Discussion: Why is the sky s blue described as descending and in a rush? What does this suggest about the weather? 14. The newborn lambs race and have a fling around the pasture. How do you envisage their behaviour? 15. According to the poet, spring is a time of juice and joy. Why do you think he chooses these two words to capture the season? 16. The poet detects an echo or strain of earth s... beginning. What is it about springtime that puts him in mind of earth s earliest days? 17. What Bible story is Hopkins reminded of when he considers the springtime? 18. What phrases does Hopkins use in line 13 to indicate the guiltless nature of children? 19. What might cause this innocence to cloy and become sour? 20. Class Discussion: What does he ask God to do in order to avert this danger? 21. Who is the maid s child? Why does Hopkins use this term? 22. What phrases does Hopkins use to indicate that the children of the world are deserving of Jesus love? A Closer Reading 1. Identify one example of metaphor and one example of simile in this poem. 2. Identify three examples of assonance or alliteration in this poem. 3. Class Discussion: What features of the sonnet form does this poem possess? 4. Identify two places in this poem where Hopkins plays with the normal order of words in a sentence. 5. Do you think the comparison between springtime and the Garden of Eden is a reasonable one? Is there more than one similarity between these two concepts? What are the differences between the two? 6. The sonnet s sestet begins with the question What is all this juice and all this joy? Do you think that it provides an answer to this question? If so, what is it? 7. Group Discussion: Is Hopkins view of childhood innocence accurate or idealistic? Does he feel that the innocence of each child will inevitably be clouded and soured by sin? Do you yourself agree with this view? 8. This poem celebrates the freshness, newness and energy of the springtime. Write a paragraph or two in response to this statement. Post-Reading Compare this poem to Inversnaid. Can you identify at least two similarities and two differences between them? Which poem do you prefer? Give a reason for your answer. T his is Poetry 67

THis IS POETRY John Donne Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star First Encounter Stanza 1 The poet argues that it is impossible to find a single woman in the world who is both beautiful and faithful.

3 THis IS POETRY John Donne Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star First Encounter Stanza 1 The poet argues that it is impossible to find a single woman in the world who is both beautiful and faithful. To make his point Donne lists a number of tasks he calls on his readers to contemplate: Catching a star as it s falling from the sky: Go and catch a falling star. Impregnating a mandrake root, a plant that was said to resemble the human form and to emit a shriek when uprooted. Discovering where the years go when they pass away: Tell me where all past years are. Discovering who gave the devil his infamous cloven goatlike feet: who cleft the Devil s foot. Experiencing the music of the mermaids singing. Discovering a method to avoid being gripped by envy: to keep off envy s stinging. Discovering some force or circumstance that advances or rewards honest people: What wind/ Serves to advance an honest mind. These tasks, of course, are all utterly impossible. No one can catch a falling star or get a plant pregnant. No one could learn where the years go when they die or how the devil ended up with goat s feet. Yet the poet suggests that you are more likely to accomplish any one of these impossible tasks than find a woman true, and fair. Women, it seems, can be faithful or beautiful but they can t be both. Stanza 2 The poet imagines a person with some kind of second sight, some strange ability to see things invisible to ordinary human beings: born to strange sights,/ Things invisible to see. He imagines this visionary undertaking a vast decades-long journey around the world, travelling for ten thousand days and nights until his hair has turned snow white. Such a traveller would have extraordinary tales to tell on his return, having witnessed all kinds of strange wonders on his travels: Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,/ All strange wonders that befell thee. He would have seen everything the world has to offer. Yet he would never have 172

4 ANALYSIS encountered a woman who is both true and fair and would be forced to conclude that such a woman does not exist. Even such an exhaustive journey, undertaken by a man with supernatural vision, would yield no sighting of a woman both beautiful and faithful. Stanza 3 Donne briefly entertains the possibility that a woman like this might just be out there somewhere. If one of his readers encounters such a woman they should write to him informing him of their discovery: If thou find'st one, let me know. For he would happily undertake a long journey to see this woman: Such a pilgrimage were sweet. Focus on Style However, he immediately changes his mind and says that he would not go. In fact even if this newlydiscovered honest beauty were living next door to him he wouldn t travel to see her. Why this sudden change of heart? The poet seems to feel such a woman might be faithful when the poet s reader finds her. Her faithfulness might even last until the poet s reader writes to him, informing him of this extraordinary discovery: Though she were true, when you met her, And last, till you write your letter. But by the time the poet received the letter and travelled to meet her she would have been unfaithful. Indeed she ll have been false or have cheated with two or three different men by the time the poet gets there: Yet she/ Will be/ False, ere I come, to two, or three. A CLOSER READING The poem lists many strange and fantastical things in an effort to show just how unlikely it is to find an honest and beautiful woman. Donne draws on folklore, tales of superstition and fantasy, when he lists a series of impossible tasks in the opening stanza. His reference to such tales suggests that the idea of a woman who is beautiful and trustworthy is fantasy, something only found in fairy tales. Form This is a lyric poem consisting of three verses each following a ABABCCDDD rhyme scheme. The fact that the title begins with the word Song tells us that this lyric was intended to be put to music and sung. Tone The poet adopts a cynical and disillusioned tone as he doubts the possibility of ever finding a woman who is genuine and trustworthy. The last stanza is particularly bitter and cynical as the poet first allows for the possibility of a woman being honest and beautiful, only to say that she will prove false in no time at all. Metaphor, simile and personification In the second stanza, the poet personifies age. Age is said to put snow white hairs on us as we age. The appearance of white hairs is metaphorically likened to the fall of snow. This poem takes an extremely bitter and cynical view of love. Women, the poet argues, are by their very nature inclined to be unfaithful. In fact women are so untrustworthy in matters of the heart that it s impossible to find a woman who is both beautiful and faithful. And even if you do find such a woman it s only a matter of time until her true treacherous nature is revealed: Though she were true, when you met her Yet she/ Will be/ False. The poet singles out fair or attractive women but he probably believes that all women are inclined toward unfaithfulness it s just that fair women because of their attractiveness have more opportunities to act on this treacherous impulse. The poem, then, can be read as an extremely cynical piece of relationship advice from the poet to his male readers: avoid getting emotionally involved with women, he seems to suggest, because they cannot be trusted and will only hurt and betray you. Women, presumably, should instead be viewed only as objects of physical attraction. We can imagine how female readers have reacted to such sexist sentiments... T his is Poetry 173

THis IS POETRY John Keats On First Looking into Chapman s Homer In this sonnet Keats records his pleasure and excitement at discovering George Chapman s translations of the great Greek poet Homer.

5 THis IS POETRY John Keats On First Looking into Chapman s Homer In this sonnet Keats records his pleasure and excitement at discovering George Chapman s translations of the great Greek poet Homer. Homer was famous for his two epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey. Keats could not read ancient Greek so it was only through Chapman s translations that he could explore these epics, which are often considered to be the greatest works of Western poetry. 192 First Encounter Lines 1 TO 4: Reading as travelling The poem s opening lines present reading poetry as a form of travel and exploration. A great poet s collected works is like a country (a realm, state or kingdom ) he or she has painstakingly constructed over years of imaginative effort. Reading a poet s work is like visiting and exploring his or her country. Keats is very well travelled in this regard because he has read the work of many great poets: Much have I travell d in the realms of gold/ And many goodly states and kingdoms seen. BARDS One particular group of poets is referred to as bards. The bards hold or govern a series of islands in the west. We imagine them ruling these territories like wise old stewards, using their poetic wisdom to govern justly. They have sworn fealty or loyalty to Apollo, who was the Greek god of poetry and song, and we sense that they preside over their islands in Apollo s name, governing on his behalf. Bards, of course, were the poets of Britain and Ireland in Celtic times. Some readers, therefore, think Keats is referring to the great poets from the history of Britain and Ireland in these lines, which is why he refers to them as bards and locates their realms in the west.

6 ANALYSIS The country built by each great poet is described as goodly or large. They are realms of gold, places of great wealth. This suggests the breadth of vision and incredible imaginative richness present in each great poet s output. Lines 5 TO 8: Visiting Homer s Realm Homer s work, too, is described as a realm or demesne. The country he created is particularly vast and expansive: one wide expanse Homer ruled as his demesne. On the map of poetry, Homer s realm dwarfs even the large or goodly countries constructed by the other great poets of the European tradition. The air or serene in his realm is extremely crisp and pure, suggesting how even after thousands of years his poems retain their energy and freshness. The phrase deepbrow d refers to a famous bust of Homer, which depicts Homer s brow or forehead as being marked by deep wrinkles. Presumably the sculptor intended to convey that Homer was always furrowing his brow in deep concentration as he worked on his extraordinary epics. Lines 9 TO 14: A great discovery Keats describes an astronomer or watcher of the skies who discovers a new planet: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies/ When a new planet swims into his ken. The planet, we re told, comes or swims into the astronomer s ken or knowledge. Perhaps the word swims describes the planet moving across the night sky until it slides into view of the astronomer s telescope. Or maybe it describes this new knowledge swimming into the astronomer s brain as realisation of his great discovery slowly dawns on him. (It s often been suggested that these lines were inspired by the astronomer Herschel s discovery of the planet Uranus in 1781.) Keats has often heard about Homer s amazing epics: Oft of one wide expanse had I been told. Yet he has never been able to read them due to his lack of ancient Greek. He has never been able to visit and explore Homer s great realm: Yet did I never breathe its pure serene. Now, however, Keats has discovered Chapman s translations of Homer s masterpieces: I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold. Chapman s skill as a translator has allowed him to experience Homer s work for the first time. Finally Keats has managed to enter the wide expanse of Homer s realm and breathe its pure clean air. Keats also describes the Spanish explorer Cortez, who discovered the Pacific Ocean while travelling through Darien or Panama. We can imagine Cortez s shock when he reached the top of a hill and saw something he d never expected: a vast and undiscovered ocean shimmering as far as the eye could see. Keats paints a wonderful picture of Cortez as he makes his astonishing discovery. Cortez is stout or strong and has the eagle eyes of an experienced soldier and explorer. He stands Silent on the mountain peak and star d at this new ocean, suggesting that even this hard and seasoned A CLOSER READING Chapman s Homer is one of several poems where Keats celebrates the joy and pleasure of reading. Reading poetry, the poem suggests, can be a thrilling voyage of discovery. Exploring a new poet s work is like exploring a new country or island brimming with riches and fantastic sights. The poem also celebrates the incredible excitement of discovering a great new author. For Keats, discovering Homer through Chapman s translation is as thrilling as discovering a new planet or a new ocean. The poem, then, emphasizes the emotional intensity with which Keats responded to works of art. Most of us don t share this incredible sensitivity. But maybe we can understand where Keats is coming from when we respond with excitement to a new book, movie or song. More than anything else the poem is a tribute to the creative genius of Homer. Keats indicates Homer s pre-eminent status among poets by referring to his work as a vast expanse, which dwarfs the smaller territories represented by the works of other great poets. He suggests the originality and freshness of Homer s work by referring to his realm s pure serene or fresh clean air. The poem stresses Homer s unparalleled artistic creativity by reminding us that even after thousands of years his work retains all its freshness, originality and power. The poem also suggests that to fulfil their creativity poets must remain true to their artistic vision. They must maintain fealty to Apollo, staying loyal and devoted to their craft. They must follow their artistic intuitions and not be swayed by censorship, by the promise of money or by fear of others negative reactions to their work. T his is Poetry 193

Poetry Lover By Jessa R. Sexton

Poetry Lover By Jessa R. Sexton I was first published in my elementary school s literary magazine for a rather repetitive poem I wrote about lightning in the 4th grade. (When lightning flashes through