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Gerard Manley Hopkins

God's Grandeur

Even more challenging questions!

Keith Tankard
Knowledge4Africa.com
Updated: 1 March 2014
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In this sonnet, Hopkins juxtaposes the wonders of God against the achievements of humankind. God and humankind are presented as opposites, not so much Goodness vs Evil but rather Perfection vs Imperfection.

Humankind, our works and our deeds are portrayed as tainted, common and ugly as opposed to God whose creation is perceived as fresh and warm and sparkling with life and light. In this poem, one should examine closely the words which the poet uses to portray each of these juxtapositions.



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 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 is reminded of a poached egg clearly lacks Instress. 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 44 years of age.

Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:



"Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell."
  • Comment on the poet's use of rhythm in these lines. (4)

[Need help?]

  • Comment on the language devices used in these lines. (4)

[Need help?]




"The soil is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod."
  • What meaning do you see in the poet's use of antithesis: that the soil is bare but the foot is shod? (4)

[Need help?]




"And for all this, nature is never spent."
  • What, do you think, does the poet mean when he uses the word "spent"? (4)

[Need help?]




"There lives the dearest freshness deep down things."
  • Identify the language device being used here and comment on its use in these lines. (4)

[Need help?]




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