Thursday, June 28, 2007

Gerald Manley Hopkins

I first skimmed through Gerald Hopkins work, and I figured out two things very quickly, by simply reading the titles of his work. One, he had faith in God, since eight of the ten poems had the word, "God" in them. Two, he had been through some hard times, which was made evident by the title, "I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark, Not Day," (778). The introduction confirmed both of these initial thoughts by saying he often speaks of "God's presence in nature," (774). His poem, "God's Grandeur," begins by saying "the world is charged with the grandeur of God," (774) which reinterates my thoughts. This poem seems to express his faith and discusses man presence on the earth. He talks about how God's presence alters that of man, and Hopkins writes, "Generations 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," (775).

I really liked the poem, "No Worst, There is None," because it talks about the perspective of someone who is trying to have faith during a difficult time period of his/her life. "My cries heave," (777) suggests that this person is growing tired and is desperately calling out for help. He continues on saying, "Fury had shrieked, 'No lingering! Let me be fell; force I must be brief," (778).

Another short poem, "I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark, Not Day" is also about the trials of life. He writes, "O what black hours we have spent this night... And my lament is cries countless..." (778). I felt compassion for the speaker, for it is evident they are troubled and lost. Hopkins writes, "The lost are like this, and their scourge to be as I am mine, their sweating selves, but worse," (778). I felt this poem was easy to identify with because everyone has spent a time period during their lives where they have felt lost. It can be an upsetting feeling to think you are all alone. These times seemed to try Hopkins faith, as they do most people.

2 comments:

Brenda Hawthorne said...

Unlike Caitlin, I did not like "No Worst, There is None." I know that it was intentionally done this way, but the words,the rhythm, and the sentence structure - it was just painful for me to read. It was hard, tense, jumpy, stressful - I really can't find the word to describe the feeling - but it was uncomfortable in some strange way for me to read Hopkins.

Jonathan.Glance said...

Caitlin,

This post seems insightful, perhaps because you engage with it and connect Hopkins's feelings to your own. I think it might have been better to focus on fewer poems (or perhaps only one), so you could go deeper in your analysis.