Gerard Manley Hopkins
THIS IS POETRY
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.
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,
[5]
[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]
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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
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
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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’.
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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
ANALYSIS
Focus on Style
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’.
However, he immediately
changes his mind and
The poem lists many strange
says that he ‘would
and
fantastical things in an effort
not go’. In fact
to show just how unlikely it is to find an
even if this newlyForm
honest
and beautiful woman. Donne draws on
discovered honest
This is a lyric poem consisting of three verses each
folklore, tales of superstition and fantasy, when
beauty were living
following a ABABCCDDD rhyme scheme. The
he lists a series of impossible tasks in the opening
‘next door’ to him
fact that the title begins with the word ‘Song’ tells
stanza.
His
reference
to
such
tales
suggests
that
he wouldn’t travel
us that this lyric was intended to be put to music
the idea of a woman who is beautiful and
to see her. Why this
and sung.
trustworthy is fantasy, something
sudden change of
only found in fairy tales.
heart? The poet seems
Tone
to feel such a woman
The poet adopts a cynical and disillusioned tone as
might be faithful when the
he doubts the possibility of ever finding a woman
poet’s reader finds her. Her
who is genuine and trustworthy. The last stanza is
faithfulness might even ‘last’ until the poet’s reader
particularly bitter and cynical as the poet first allows
writes to him, informing him of this extraordinary
for the possibility of a woman being honest and
discovery: ‘Though she were true, when you met her, And
beautiful, only to say that she will prove false in no
last, till you write your letter’. But by the time the poet
time at all.
received the letter and travelled to meet her she would
have been unfaithful. Indeed she’ll have been ‘false’ or
Metaphor, simile and personification
have cheated with two or three different men by the time
In the second stanza, the poet personifies ‘age’. Age
the poet gets there: ‘Yet she/ Will be/ False, ere I come,
is said to put ‘snow white hairs’ on us as we age. The
to two, or three’.
appearance of white hairs is metaphorically likened
to the fall of snow.
A CLOSER READING
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
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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
One particular group of poets is referred to as
considered to be the greatest works of Western poetry.
BARDS
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’.
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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.
ANALYSIS
The country built by each great poet is
Lines 9 TO 14: A great discovery
described as ‘goodly’ or large. They are
Keats describes an astronomer or ‘watcher
‘realms of gold’, places of great wealth.
of the skies’ who discovers a new planet:
The phrase ‘deepThis suggests the breadth of vision
‘Then felt I like some watcher of the
brow’d’ refers to a famous bust
and incredible imaginative richness
skies/ When a new planet swims into
of Homer, which depicts Homer’s
present in each great poet’s output.
his ken’. The planet, we’re told, comes
brow or forehead as being marked by
or ‘swims’ into the astronomer’s ‘ken’
deep wrinkles. Presumably the sculptor
or knowledge.
Lines 5 TO 8: Visiting Homer’s Realm
intended to convey that Homer was
Homer’s work, too, is described as a
always furrowing his brow in deep
Perhaps the word ‘swims’ describes
realm or ‘demesne’. The country he
concentration as he worked on
the
planet moving across the night sky
created is particularly vast and expansive:
his extraordinary epics.
until it slides into view of the astronomer’s
‘one wide expanse … Homer ruled as his
telescope. Or maybe it describes this new
demesne’. On the ‘map’ of poetry, Homer’s
knowledge ‘swimming’ into the astronomer’s brain
realm dwarfs even the large or ‘goodly’ countries
constructed by the other great poets of the European as realisation of his great discovery slowly dawns on him.
tradition. The air or ‘serene’ in his realm is extremely crisp (It’s often been suggested that these lines were inspired by
and pure, suggesting how even after thousands of years his the astronomer Herschel’s discovery of the planet Uranus
in 1781.)
poems retain their energy and freshness.
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. ■
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