The Subtle and the Not-So-Subtle:
Prototypical Features of Poetry
Introduction:
One of my high school English teachers would often give us poetry selections from our
current period of literature to read every Tuesday. One such poem was “God’s Grandeur” (B.1),
written by Gerard Manley Hopkins. I fell in love with this poem, especially as I continued to
encounter it in various other settings. As a graduation gift, this teacher gave me his old anthology
of Hopkins’ poetry—thus heightening my appreciation of both poet and teacher.
Hopkins very obviously wrote poetry. However, the definition of “poem” can become
extremely fast and loose (especially after one has read some Russian futurist poetry). I was
particularly interested in asking other people what they defined as a “poem”—and as I watched
them struggle to answer my question, I was fascinated by the extreme difficult of what I was
asking. Fortunately, I was given answers and was able to use the results to figure out just how
prominent the supposedly prototypical poem features are in “God’s Grandeur.”
As I analyzed the poem in light of my findings, I discovered that Hopkins, though unique
in which features he uses most often and which he uses less often, is fairly prototypical in terms
of poetry stereotypes—which makes sense. He was writing in a context where certain things
were Poetry and certain things were not. No Russian futurism here (thank goodness). I did find,
however, that the way Hopkins uses certain aspects is very precise and innovative.
!
Methods:
After interviewing the interviewees, I labelled each response, categorizing different
features as pertaining to structure, content, or effect. I then grouped responses by category,
counting similarly worded features as the same in order to rank them in the final list.
I then chose the most objective features on the list to measure: elements 1, 3, and 5. I
counted the number of metaphors or metaphoric statements per sentence and the instances of
non-normative syntax per line, as well as the overall ratio of Anglo-Saxon-based words to
French-Latinate words. In the metaphor count, I included both overt and embedded metaphors,
and for the syntax count, I included anything that seemed to me to be not normative (mainly in
the placement of adjectives, subjects, and adjective clauses, and the forms of verbs). I then made
a list of all the individual words appearing in the poem and looked up their etymologies in the
Online OED, marking next to each whether it came from Old English or from French (or
whether the etymology was unclear).
!
!
Results:
List of prototypical features (ranked by popularity):
1. Content: abstract images, emotions, and concepts in metaphoric language
2. Effect: relatable and engaging—connects to the reader
3. Structure: distinctly not prose (line breaks, non-normative syntax)
4. Structure: distinct sense of ‘flow’ through the use of rhyme and rhythm
5. Content: deliberate word choice
6. Content: single, clear message or purpose
7. Effect: the meaning is not immediately obvious
!
Metaphor
Average number of metaphoric statements per sentence: 3
Sentence 1
1 grandeur as a concrete object:
- charging—filling—the earth
Sentence 2
2 grandeur as a concrete object:
- flaming out like shining foil
being shaken
- gathering like the ooze of
crushed oil
Sentence 3
1 God as X
- God as a king/ruler
Sentence 4
6 life as a walking journey
the world as a distinct whole
object
- being seared with trade
- being smeared with toil
- wearing man’s smudge
- sharing man’s smell
people as a specific part of the
body
- feet that can’t feel the ground
because of shoes
Sentence 5
5 nature as a commodity
freshness as a living thing
light = hope
- sunset = hope leaving
- sunrise = hope coming
God as X
- the Holy Spirit as a bird
!
!
Syntax
Average number of
non-normative syntax
instances per sentence:
1.8 (about two)
Average number of non-normative syntax instances
per line: 9/14 = .64 (less than one)
Line 1
0
Sentence 1
0
Line 2
2 ‘like shining’ and ‘from shook
foil’
Sentence 2
3
Line 3
1 ‘the ooze of oil crushed’
Sentence 3
0
Line 4
0
Sentence 4
1
Line 5
0
Sentence 5
5
Line 6
0
Line 7
0
Line 8
1 ‘nor can foot feel, being shod’
Line 9
0
Line 10
2 ‘lives the dearest freshness’ and
‘deep down things’
Line 11
1 ‘lights… went’
Line 12
1 ‘morning, at the brown brink
eastward, springs’
Line 13
1 ‘the Holy Ghost over the bent
word broods’
Line 14
0
Diction
Total number of words (title not included): 125
Number of distinct (non-repeated) words (some words omitted due to unknown or uncertain
etymologies): 87
!
Anglo-Saxon French
Total
Percentage
!
!
!
74
13
85%
15%
Discussion:
When I finally sat down with my nicely organized results, I wasn’t exactly sure where to
begin. The most significant finding was the overwhelming number of Anglo-Saxon words in the
poem. Unlike most prose and poetry vocabularies, Hopkins’ poetry lexicon is filled to the brim
with the words that have stuck with English through the many French and Latin influences—
words from that tiny 15% that survived to this day. Diction is not as flashy or immediately
obvious as line structure or rhyme or meter; however, unlike those things, it sets a certain tone.
By choosing to use predominately Anglo-Saxon words, Hopkins cultivates a grand, archaic
setting for his poetry. He’s not trying to impress his readers with long, flowery words—his
statements are earthy, concrete, and older than nations. This is an exceptionally appropriate
vocabulary for talking about God’s grandeur.
Next influential in the list of features is Hopkins’ use of metaphor. His Anglo-Saxon wordhoard does not lend itself to talking about high-minded abstractions directly—and so his lines are
filled with concrete metaphors. Abstractions like ‘grandeur’ and ‘the world’ and even ‘God’ are
described in more down-to-earth terms. General people are given specificity using word-pictures
or metonymy (‘Generations have trod,’ ‘nor can foot feel’). The idea of commerce and
industrialism comes up multiple times when talking about the world being ‘seared’ and ‘bleared’
and ‘smeared’ and nature being something capable of being ‘spent.’ An overarching concept
metaphor in this poem would thus be Natural is Good, Man-Made is Bad. Light as Hope counters
the darkness and dirt of earlier in the reminder that with every sunset comes a sunrise. The entire
thing is closed with the poignant image of the Holy Spirit as a mother bird tenderly guarding her
nest.
Finally, syntax. Most people I interviewed mentioned non-normative syntax in conjunction
with rhyme and meter schemes (because, as everyone knows, poets mess about with syntax just
to fit the meter1). Hopkins does make use of a certain rhythm and rhyming pattern—but the way
he goes about it is deliciously understated. He has no need of moving words around to
accommodate choices of structure. Indeed, most of the poem conforms to grammar guidelines.
What deviations there are are for effect—either in putting certain words closer together, or
setting them apart, or highlighting or obscuring them by placement.
*sarcasm*
But there is a perverse pleasure in saying such things and then watching as an English professor’s blood pressure
rises in righteous indignation.
1