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"Inversnaid" is the description of a stream tumbling down through the highlands of Scotland to the
waterfall at Inversnaid.
At its heart is a hymn of praise for the beauty of creation, as well as an appeal for such wildernesses to
be left unspoilt.
ABOUT THE POET
Gerard Manley Hopkins was born in 1844, the first of nine children. His parents were staunch Anglicans.
Hopkins 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, however, after 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.
Not everyone, however, 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 then London
before moving on to become parish priest in slum parishes in Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.
None of this work 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 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:
"Inversnaid" is the description of a stream tumbling down through the highlands of Scotland to the
waterfall at Inversnaid. The poet has used several Scottish words in this poem.
- How many Scottish words can you identify? What does each
mean? (5 x 2)
[Need help?]
- "brae" = river or stream bank, or a Scottish hillside;
- "heath" = a type of course vegetation which grows on the Scottish hills;
Are there any more?
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Hopkins is well known for creating words, often by joining together two words to create a new one.
- How many created words can you find? (5 x 2)
[Need help?]
This darksome burn, horseback brown,
His rollrock highroad roaring down.
- What do you think the poet means by the term "rollrock"? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet has created the word "rollrock" and uses it both for its descriptive and its lyrical quality.
Indeed, if you were to say the word out loud, and rolling the r's the way the Scots would do, you should
feel the lyrical quality.
The word probably refers to those round rocks which one finds in stream-beds, rocks which roll around
with the force of water rushing over them.
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- Why should the burn or stream be said to be "horseback brown"? (2)
[Need help?]
"Horseback brown" would refer to the brown colour of the water.
Notice, however, the use of alliteration here: "back brown" which again supplies a lyrical quality
to the word.
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In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam
Flutes and low to the lake falls home.
- Remembering that Hopkins sometimes plays around with word-order, what do you think "In coop
and in comb the fleece of his foam" means? (4)
[Need help?]
If something is cooped up, it means it is restricted in movement. If water is cooped up, it forms a pool,
doesn't it?
"The fleece of his foam" is a metaphor which compares the tiny bubbles of foam to little tufts of
wool which are pulled loose when a sheep is being combed.
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- What does he mean when he says "to the lake falls home"? (2)
[Need help?]
"To the lake falls home" refers to the fact that the stream tumbles downwards over the rocks of the
stream-bed until it eventually reaches the lake or loch that is its final home.
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- What do "flutes" have to do with it? (4)
[Need help?]
A "flute" could be a wind instrument of metal or wood, but that is probably not the meaning here.
It could also be an ornamental vertical groove in a column. In this case, it's a description of the beautiful,
natural architecture of the rocks through which the stream is flowing.
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A windpuff-bonnet of fáwn-fróth.
- What would the poet mean by "a windpuff-bonnet"? (4)
[Need help?]
When the poet speaks of "a windpuff-bonnet", he is referring to the foam that is blown free from
the stream, isn't he? It is a "windpuff" of foam.
Why, however, "a windpuff-bonnet" of foam? Possibly the poet is comparing the puff of foam
drifting on the wind to a puff of seed that also floats on the wind, a puff of seed that looks like a tiny bonnet
or hat floating on the wind.
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- Why would he describe the froth on the stream as "fáwn-fróth"? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet possibly has in mind the colour of a baby deer, i.e. a gentle brown.
The stream has already been described as "horseback brown", so it is quite possible that the little
clumps of foam are also brown -- but a more gentle colour.
Not "horseback brown" but "fawn" brown.
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