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READ THIS
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.
ABOUT THE POET
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.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"O if we but knew what we do
When we delve or hew -
Hack and rack the growing green!"
- Comment on the poet's choice of words "delve", "hew", "hack" and
"rack". (6)
[Need help?]
The words "delve", "hew", "hack" and "rack" all have negative connotations.
There is no idea here of finesse contained in any of the words.
One often comes across the word "delve" in literature connected to dwarves digging for gold. Of
course, The Lord of the Rings has tended to put the dwarves in a goodish light, but generally they
have had a poor reputation for having a lust for precious metals for which they would dig and delve to lay
their grubby hands on it.
One "hews" wood for lumber, for firewood. This is not the gentle chiselling and carving of the
master craftsman, but the indiscriminate destruction for purposes of utility.
"Hack" and "rack" have a medieval warlike connotation: the medieval knight would ride
into
battle to "hack" and "rack" people's skulls. The words both have a destructive value.
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- The poet asks a rhetorical question here. What is a rhetorical question? What is the poet's answer
to this question? (4)
[Need help?]
A rhetorical question is one which expects a certain answer. It is a controlling question because the
listener or reader is almost forced to accept the speaker's point of view.
In this case, the poet's question is "O if we but knew what we do?" and his answer is that we would
realise that we are destroying the world, and God's essence in the world. We would therefore avoid doing
this at all costs.
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"Since country is so tender
To touch, her being só slender,
That, like this sleek and seeing ball
But a prick will make no eye at all."
- The poet places emphasis on two words here: "tender" and "slender" . What is his
purpose in doing so? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is making the point that nature is delicate and is easily lost. "Tender" means delicate
whereas "slender" means thin and easily damaged.
The poet wishes that we would all be aware of the fragility of nature, that damage to it is often irreparable.
Worse, damage for the sake of industry is unforgivable.
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- What is "this sleek and seeing ball"? (2)
[Need help?]
The poet is speaking about one's eyeball, is he not?
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- What does the poet mean when he says, "A prick will make no eye at all"? (4)
[Need help?]
Sticking a needle into one's eye will make one blind, will it not? An eye which cannot see is no eye at all.
In the same way, destruction of nature will make us spiritually blind.
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"Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve
Strokes of havoc únselve
The sweet especial scene,
Rural scene, a rural scene,
Sweet especial rural scene."
- The poet uses repetition throughout this poem. In these lines we find repetition used twice.
Why? (4)
[Need help?]
Repetition is used for emphasis. It is used for shock value. The poplars are thin trees, and so only ten
or twelve strokes will destroy a grove.
The poet also wishes to dwell on the idea that this is a rural scene. Rural for the poet means being close
to God, but this closeness is destroyed with the destruction of nature.
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- Why does the poet speak of "only ten or twelve strokes"? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is emphasising that it takes so very little to destroy nature - just ten or twelve strokes of an axe.
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- The poet is famous for his making up words. What then would be the meaning of his made up word
"únselve"? (4)
[Need help?]
"únselve" is the opposite of "self", isn't it? The "self" needs nature in order
to exist. The cutting down of the trees will therefore "únselve" one, make one a little less
Godlike. It will diminish the person.
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"Inscape is the underlying form that marks the essence of all things, the God-principle which
exists in everything. Instress is our ability to experience that God-principle. Everything has
Inscape. In other words, everything has a God-principle."
- If this is true, how would it explain how extreme must have been the poet's distress at seeing the grove
of poplar trees gone? (10)
[Need help?]
In much the same way as the great nature poets like Wordsworth, Hopkins sees Nature and God as
synonymous. Nature is God, and God is Nature. In this way, Hopkins would have been a good romantic
poet.
Hopkins, however, was driven by the medieval concept that God is the centre of all reality. The essence
of all reality is God. Everything has a God-principle.
When one destroys nature, on the other hand, one also destroys the God-principle. One destroys the
essence of life.
Remember that Hopkins was also at the beginning of the industrial revolution. He could see nature being
destroyed for the sake of ugly factories, the very opposite of the idea of God and Nature.
There is no beauty in a factory. There is only beauty in Nature. God only exists in Nature.
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