Pied Beauty - Herard Manly Hopkins

Pied Beauty

Gerard Manly Hopkins

Summary: Hopkins was born in 1844, and died just 45 years later in 1889. He was a deeply intellectual and religious man, and became a Jesuit priest in 1877, the same year of which he wrote Pied Beauty. In the poem, the author expresses his gratitude in God for making all the beautiful things that we now see in this world (assuming that what he saw is not that far off from what we now see of course) and how we should all “praise him”.

Significant poetic devices and their significance (eg: Metaphors, symbols, rhyme scheme, form, imagery, repetition… etc)

Structure-based analysis

1)      Funny rhyme scheme here. ABCABC DBEDE. Note how every rhyming lines are indented to the same extent. This perhaps portrays the different hierarchies of the world that we see today, whether it is caste, wealth or class. He perhaps is trying to link them all together, and express the feeling that there is room for everyone in the kingdom of God, or God sees all, from the rich to the poor, no matter what your social status. The peculiar rhyme scheme could represent the fact that we often find God a very mysterious entity, one who works in mysterious ways. We cannot fully understand why he often does things so out of convention (ie storms, hurricanes) but they are all part of his plan to make everything work. The break in the rhyme scheme illustrates the fact that God is unpredictable, when you start to understand what he does and how he works, the more he changes and does something completely different. Therefore the poet is trying to demonstrate the fact that we cannot even begin to comprehend the concept of God, and that ‘the only thing we are certain about him is his uncertainty.
The last line in the poem “praise him” is indented differently from the rest of the poem, providing a very powerful message for the conclusion, as if the poet was saying ‘Amen’ at the end of a prayer.

2)      Iambic pentameter not used, rather Sprung Rhythm is used. This is a poetic rhythm designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech. It is constructed from feet in which the first syllable is stressed and may be followed by a variable number of unstressed syllables. In this case, the poet uses this to make his poem sound more genuine, emphasising the fact that he truly feels this sense of love towards God. The fact that it sounds like natural speech also creates a stronger empathy link with the reader and the poet, thus making it easier for the poet to get his point across.

|Glory|be to|God for|dappled|things—
For|skies of|couple-|colour as a|brinded|cow;
For|rose-moles|all in|stipple upon|trout that|swim;
Fresh-|firecoal|chestnut-|falls;|finches'|wings;
|Landscape|plotted and|pieced—fold,|fallow, and|plough;
And|all|trades, their|gear and|tackle and|trim.

|All things|counter, o|riginal,|spare,|strange;
What|ever is|fickle,|freckled|(who knows|how?)
With|swift,|slow; sweet,|sour; a|dazzle,|dim;
He|fathers-|forth whose|beauty is|past|change:
|Praise|him.|

This is the proposed separation technique found in the poem.

3)      Hyphenated words throughout the whole poem. This was very common in the romanticism era but this technique came to be associated with the innovative sonic experimentation of 20^th century modernisation.

4)      Old Testament biblical hymn or psalm writing style, once again going back to God and how God is exemplified throughout the poem. Similar to how God is the fabric that makes up the whole poem, we can also say that God is also found in the fabric of society in itself, no matter what we do, similar to how God is found in every aspect that we describe in the poem.

Check out Psalm 148. Do you find much difference?

Psalm 148 is one of the original hymns to creation:

Praise him, you highest heavens 
and you waters above the skies.

Let them praise the name of the Lord, 
for he commanded and they were created.

5)      A lot of alliteration found in this poem. This is used by the poet to unify all aspects that is described in the poem together despite the fact that that the words sometimes contrast each other. However, in other aspects they are similar. Such examples are “sweet” and “sour” that although they contrast in taste, they are all different forms of taste. Therefore what the poet is trying to do here is make links between everything we see and say that we in fact, are all living in this world where everything is linked and that we are all created from the same God that made the world so beautiful. This makes the reader feel loved as we feel part of something bigger than ourselves and make us look at God with a lot more love than we previously had, which was the primary aim of the poet.

Text-based analysis

1)      In the first line of the poem, the poet thanks God for “dappled things”. In this sense he is talking about animals having different patterns on their skins. In this sense he could be addressing patterns and how it provides us with a sense of variety. In this way providing mystery for us humans to discover, whether it is finding a new species or sailing the world to see new places. What is life without its mysteries in essence? He further expresses this in the second and third stanza.

a.       “For skies of couple-colour as a brindled cow” note that skies of couple-colour can only be done when we have streaks of it, otherwise it would just be one colour due to the mixture, bringing up the topic of “dappled things”. Furthermore the word “dappled” is another word for “brindled”.

b.      “For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim” Once again he is talking about dappled things in the trout with stipple patterns on it. Furthermore take note that stippling is a form of art technique, demonstrating the fact that all patterns and forms of variation found in animals is a form of art from God. Take note of the special stippling patterns of the fish.

                                                               i.      He also ranges from trout to cow and mentions the sky, therefore he is trying to include all aspects by addressing one of the broadest concepts possible: The land, sea and sky. 

Also, take note that the poet begins with “Glory be to God”, which is often heard at the church when we read the Bible, thus creating a psalm-like poem effect.2)      In the fourth line he talks about he talks about the “Landscape plotted and pieced- fold, fallow and plough;” Note that “plotted and pieced” are two words that portray alliteration and rightly so for they all fit together and complement each other. When we read this we often imagine an agricultural imagery, which mostly brings about European imagery, as we start think about olden times before modernisation began. This brings about a sense of calmness and tranquillity, as the emotions that are usually evoked when we see such imagery. I don’t even have to look past the first picture to get these sort of pictures when I search it up on Google.

Calming effect no?

3)      In the sixth line, we start to mention trade, or a skilled job. Note how he tends to mention generic tools (“gear”) and actions (“tackled and bum”) for various purposes in various jobs. Without mentioning it, he already has made a reference to fishing, sailing, clothes-making and many other jobs.

a.       Trade may be used to represent a connection between one’s works and job, perhaps creating a link with passion, of which doing often brings one joy. In terms of trade, the word “dappled” mentioned has a wider meaning and contradicts the scope of the first stanza, in which the speaker focuses mainly on the visual aspects when mentioned.

b.       Furthermore note that trade is used to benefit both people so that both perceive that they have traded for something better. Therefore the mention of trade usually evokes happy images for one who does so often. 

4)       In the seventh line, the poet talks about how “All things counter, original, spare, strange”. The word “counter” represents how everything on this Earth counters all that is normal, indicating that everything on this Earth is in essence, extraordinary.

a.       On the other hand, it can once again be a reference to God and how our concept of God “counter(s)” all logical thinking and how it counter’s the theory of science, the very subject that explains how the world works.

b.       Take note how the poet doesn’t stop his usage of commas, indicating that he feels no need or impulse to stop, as if he feels emotionally engulfed in his love for the world and for God.

Rather than list specific objects, he uses adjectives to describe their equalities. Take note that by doing so he has pointed out a range of objects that can actually be infinite depending on the reader’s interpretation of the adjective because opinion is often subjective. Therefore by doing so the poet can address a million different things that can fit the reader’s interpretation instead of only talking about a few small specific objects that some can fail to appreciate.

5)       Once again the words used to indicate unpredictability return, with words like “fickle” which means ‘liable to sudden change’. ‘Freckle’ reminds me once again of stippling, which can be used to talk about “dappled things” once again when we think about the trout. The phrase in brackets “(who knows how?)” once again talks about the beauty of the unknown and how it provides adventure. Therefore once again the implications of the first three lines of the poem can be seen here.

6)       Note the semi-colons used to divide between the three pairs of contrasting words. Once again they bring up the thought of unpredictability and how it is possible for something to ‘freckled’ with two opposite qualities.

a.       Also, never forget the power of contrasting aspects. What is the point of having something that has no opposite? How do we compare things? What is the point of having good people if we cannot compare it with the bad? What would good even mean then? It is therefore the contrast that something that it is. Also, note how the power of putting the two contrasting words together. Think of sweet and sour pork, they contrast each other, yet taste amazing.

7)       Take note of the word “fathers-forth” in the second last line. In turns of Christianity, God is portrayed as the trinity, the father, son and the Holy Spirit. In this sense he can be making a reference to God as a kind father. He has also put him in such a way that although the world changes as we move from past to future, His beauty will forever remain beautiful.

8)       Praise him. Amen. Refer to the structured level analysis. Note that in the first line, “God” is spelled with a capital G. However in the final line of poem “him” is spelled with a lower case letter, although the implication is the same and therefore should have a capital H, as is the convention. This indicates that although God essentially is all power for the creation of variety, he is also humble, of which that characteristic calls for even more glorifying, for we have an entity much more powerful than ourselves who is actually humble, something that is very hard to come by.

Speaker of the poem: The poet himself, Gerard Manly Hopkins.

Speaker’s attitude toward the subject of the poem: Thankful for all the beautiful things, especially the unique and mysterious things of this world that and addresses the issue of how we see God from a human paradigm.

Paired poems (Identify poems in the anthology and why they are appropriate to be paired)

1)      Sonnet: Composed upon Westminister Bridge in the sense of techniques used when describing the views that he sees and when he describes the town as something alive and something bigger than we can possibly imagine.

2)      Hunting Snake as it also conveys the beauty of nature throughout the poem through implicating the many wonders that can be found in nature. In Hunting Snake they are the beautiful scenery and of course, the snake itself.

Memorable lines:

1)      “Glory be to God for dappled things –“

2)      “Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow and plough;”

3)      “All things counter, original, spare, strange”

4)      “He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:”