Title: God’s Grandeur
Starter: What does the word ‘grandeur’ in the title suggest to you?
L. Daly HL 2018
C. Muire Cobh
List the words/phrases which stand out
L. Daly HL 2018
C. Muire Cobh
The world is charged with the grandeur of
God.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
It will flame out, like shining from shook
foil;
There lives the dearest freshness
deep down things;
oil
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his
rod?
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: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
L. Daly HL 2018
And though the last lights off the
black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink
eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and
with ah! bright wings.
C. Muire Cobh
Background
• This sonnet belongs with
‘Spring’ and ‘Pied Beauty.’
• Celebrates the divine energy
that flows through nature.
• Manifests itself in the
creative energy and beauty of
the natural world.
• Christian theologians – Hopkins
‘sacramental vision.’
• All the elements of the natural
world that delight human beings
are outward and visible signs of
the presence of God in our
world.
L. Daly HL 2018
• The ‘bright sonnets.’
• Gift to his mother on her
birthday.
• It is a poem that resonates
richly for a modern audience
or readership worried by the
dangers of global warming and
ecological disaster; it has a
particular relevance to an
Ireland that is being
‘developed’ at a frightening
pace
C. Muire Cobh
Structure
• Petrarchan Sonnet
• Tight rhyming
scheme
• Abbaabba cdcdcd
• Strict formal
structure acts as a
counterbalance to
the passion and
excitement that
the poem
expresses.
C. Muire Cobh
L. Daly HL 2018
Words and Stylistic Features
• Chooses plain, simple words
• Mostly one syllable.
• Old English/Anglo-Saxon
Middle English
• Alliteration = every line
• Gives vigour and emphasis to
what he has to say
• Internal Ryhme (‘rod’/ ‘trod’
– ln 4/5)
L. Daly HL 2018
C. Muire Cobh
Sample paragraph – what impression of God is presented in the poem?
Hopkins presents an image of a loving God caring for us all. Nature
images are used as comparisons. God is seen at the end of the poem
where he compares God to a female bird protecting its new-born
fledglings in the nest. The image we get is of the hatchings in the nest
under the ‘warm breast.’ Secure in the knowledge that they are being
looked after. This is a simple but direct metaphor. Hopkins develops
this image by referring to the ‘bright wings’ which might be a symbol
of the glory of God’s heavenly light, something often referred to in
the Bible. The poet obviously recognises the power of God. At the
start of the sonnet, he compares God to a lightning rod, another
nature comparison. Lightning is powerful but very dangerous, God is
the Creator but has the power of Heaven and Hell. Overall, we get a
balanced picture of God in the poem, but the main image is one of a
caring
who nurtures the
world.
L. Dalyprotector
HL 2018
C. Muire
Cobh
Examiner’s comment
• The paragraph includes some good discussion on the final
positive image of God.
• However, a more thorough development of the lighting
comparison would have helped raise the standard above a
good C grade.
• The expression is note-like at times.
L. Daly HL 2018
C. Muire Cobh
Key Quotes
The world is charged with the grandeur of
God
Hopkins metaphorical view of God’s
greatness as an electric force is both power
and retribution
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared The verbs emphasise a highly critical view of a
with toil
man’s misuse of the earth
Nature is never spent
God’s possesses an infinite power of renewal.
This is evident in the powerful cycle of nature
Nor can foot feel, being shod
The Holy Ghost over the bent/World broods
L. Daly HL 2018
C. Muire Cobh