Binsey Poplars

The poet bemoans the chopping down of a grove of poplar trees, probably to make way for an industrial site. He regrets that such beauty can be so wantonly destroyed.

Gerard Manley Hopkins was born in 1844, the first of nine children. His parents were staunch Anglicans.

He attended a grammar school in Highgate and then continued on to Oxford University. His search for religion, however, caused him to fall under the influence of the great Catholic convert, John Henry Newman. As a result, Hopkins became a Catholic in 1866 and then joined the Society of Jesus the following year.

Initially Hopkins burned all his early poetry because he believed it was a symbol of ambition in the world. He later changed his mind, being influenced by the writings of the medieval scholar Duns Scotus who saw art as a reflection of God within the world.

From this concept, Hopkins developed his own philosophy of Inscape and Instress. Inscape is the underlying form that marks the essence of all things, the God-principle which exists in everything. Instress, on the other hand, is our ability to experience that God-principle.

Everything has Inscape. In other words, everything has a God-principle. However, not everyone has Instress. The person who watches the glory of the setting sun but cannot see the beauty of it clearly lacks Instress.

Works of art - painting, poetry, etc - also have Inscape those people who lack Instress will not be able to admire the beauty in it.

The poet studied Theology in Wales, which is probably where he picked up the Welsh lyrical way of speaking and writing. He would translate this into his poetry in what he called Sprung Rhythm.

Hopkins was ordained a priest in 1877 and then worked as a curate in Sheffield, Oxford and London before moving on to become parish priest in slum parishes in Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. None of this was intellectually suitable for a man who had such a brilliant mind.

He then became a professor of Latin and Greek, first at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire and then at University College in Dublin. His frustration, however, at having to mark a plethora of mediocre scripts sent him spiralling into a state of deep depression from which he would not emerge.

He died of typhoid fever in 1889. He was then just 44 years of age.

Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:


"My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,
Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,
All felled, felled, are all felled;
Of a fresh and following folded rank
Not spared, not one
That dandled a sandalled
Shadow that swam or sank
On meadow and river and wind-wandering weed-winding bank."

• Describe the countryside around where the poplar trees were growing. (6)

[Need help?]

A grove of leafy poplar trees had been growing in a meadow alongside a meandering stream, their shadows stretching across the grass or into the steam. Now they are all gone, all chopped down.

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"My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,
Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,
All felled, felled, are all felled."

• Although the poem is titled "Binsey Poplars", the poet immediately refers to them as "aspens". Why would he do so? (2)

[Need help?]

The term "poplar" is used in England for a specific type of tree. The same term is used in South Africa. In America, however, the same tree is called an "aspen".

• What would be the meaning of "airy"? What would the poet mean when he speaks of "airy cages"? (4)

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"Airy means "tall" and "spacious". A "cage" is something which traps something, holds something captive. In this case, the leaves of the tall poplar trees hold the sun or the sun's rays captive.

• In the context of this line, is there a difference between "quelled" and "quenched"? (4)

[Need help?]

There is a difference. "Quelled" means "appeased" or "satisfied" whereas "quenched" means to end, as in ending a thirst. The leaves "quelled" the sun, it appeased the sun's excitement. It also quenched the sun's thirst for excitement and beauty.

• What is the purpose of the thrice-repeated "felled"? (2)

[Need help?]

The repetition of the word "felled" shows the poet's absolute distress at their loss, his shock at finding that they had all be chopped down. He is distraught.

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Hopkins is noted for his lyrical way of writing, or what is known as sprung rhythm

• Explain how he uses this in the three lines above: "My aspens . . . are all felled". (4)

[Need help?]

The poet begins his poem with capturing his sense of excitement at seeing the tall poplars whose leaves captured the light of the sun, reflected it in dappling shadows on the ground and in the stream. The two words "quelled" and "quenched", with their alliteration, encapsulates this excitement. The triple use of the word "felled" quenches this excitement. It creates the sense of dismay, shock at the sight of the destruction. There is a definite lyrical or musical style here, using these words to capture the excitement, but also the slow pace of "All felled, felled, are all felled" to portray his shock.

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"Of a fresh and following folded rank
Not spared, not one
That dandled a sandalled
Shadow that swam or sank
On meadow and river and wind-wandering weed-winding bank."

• Is there a purpose to alliteration? Can you explain its purpose with reference to the alliteration in these lines? (10)

[Need help?]

Alliteration creates a lyrical quality to poetry. It can help express the emotions - the excitement, the dismay - of the poet, or it could stress the onomatopoeic quality of the words used. In the first line above, we find a line of alliterated "f's". Apart from the lyrical value, what else does it capture? Or is one grasping at straws here? The alliterated "w" has lyrical value as well but it captures the sound made by the wind through the leaves and reeds. One could also look at "Shadow", "swam" and "sank" where one finds the "s" sound, something that is known as "sibilance". It often captures a hissing. Does it do so here? Do not lose sight of "dandled" and "sandalled". This is an example of assonance or two rhyming words placed alongside each other, which is also used for its lyrical value.

• Why are the poplars described as being in a "folded rank"? (4)

[Need help?]

"Folded" tends to indicate that there were two rows of trees. "Rank" is more of a military term, indicating that the trees were standing tall and upright like soldiers. Remember that in Hopkins's day, there was always a great admiration for soldiers.

• Why does the poet choose to use the word "dandled" in this context? (4)

[Need help?]

"Dandled" is a term of endearment. A father dandles his child on his knee. So the trees dandle their shadows in the stream, as if they are lots of little babies created by a marriage of the trees and the sun.

• Why would the shadow be a "sandalled" one? (2)

[Need help?]

Apart from the fact that the word "sandalled" rhymes with "dandled" - a case of assonance - the poet is probably also attempting to describe the shadows. What features of shadows would be similar to sandals?

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