Vivian Tabor

Name: Vivian S. TaborYear & Section: AB-Lit 3c-eve Instructor: Ms. Dayenne Sipaco Class Day & Time: MWF 8:30-9:00 P.M THOU ART INDEED JUST, LORD Gerard Manley Hopkins Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just. Why do sinners’ ways prosper? and why must Disappointment all I endeavour end? Wert thou my enemy, O thou my friend, How wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost Defeat, thwart me? Oh, the sots and thralls of lust Do in spare hours more thrive than I that spend, Sir, life upon thy cause. See, banks and brakes Now, leavèd how thick! lacèd they are again With fretty chervil, look, and fresh wind shakes Them; birds build – but not I build; no, but strain, Time’s eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes. Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain. Voice of the speaker The language is very direct. Notice how most words are, in fact, monosyllabic, and being verbs or nouns, take a full stress: ‘thwart', ‘sots and thralls of lust', ‘thrive', ‘spend / Sir, life', ‘not breed one work that wakes', and the last line which is entirely monosyllabic. Diction and Imagery The nature imagery that pervades the whole poem is thus less straightforward than in Hopkins' earlier poems, where Nature witnesses to God's presence. Here nature seems much more independent: it gets on with being productive, while Hopkins is totally infertile. He is ‘Time's eunuch'. The Bible talks of three reasons for being a eunuch, that is, someone whose reproductive functions have been cut off. One is being born as such; another being castrated in some way; the third is a voluntary withholding oneself ‘for the sake of the kingdom of heaven' (Matthew 19:12). It might be supposed a Catholic priest would fall in the third category, but Hopkins sees himself as perhaps in the second. Time has castrated him- nothing voluntary here. It is a strong image. This is so totally opposite to Hopkins' usual diction of hyphenated words, made-up polysyllables and so on, it is quite remarkable. It creates a tremendous sense of tension: each word is an explosion of frustration. The alliteration re-enforces this, especially the ‘b's', which run throughout the sonnet. Only very occasionally is the tension broken with phrases like ‘fretty chervil'. Figure of Speech Personification Symbolism and Allegory BIRDS Birds appear throughout Hopkins’s poetry, frequently as stand-ins for God and Christ. In “The Wind hover,” a poem dedicated to Christ, the speaker watches a falcon flying through the sky and finds traces of Christ in its flight path. The beauty of the bird causes the speaker to reflect on the beauty of Christ because the speaker sees a divine imprint on all living things. all its inhabitants. FIRE Hopkins uses images of fire to symbolize the passion behind religious feeling, as well as to symbolize God and Christ. In “God’s Grandeur,” Hopkins compares the glory of God and the beautiful bounty of his world to fire, a miraculous presence that warms and beguiles those nearby. He links fire and Christ in “The Windhover,” as the speaker sees a flame burst at the exact moment in which he realizes that the falcon contains Christ. TREES Trees appear in Hopkins’s poems to dramatize the earthly effects of time and to show the detrimental effects of humans on nature. In “Spring and Fall,” the changing seasons become a metaphor for maturation, aging, and the life cycle, as the speaker explains death to a young girl: all mortal things die, just as all deciduous trees lose their leaves Syntax & Structure The poem shows the remarkable technical skill of the poet. It is written in iambic pentameter and variety has been introduced. With the help of spondee, pyrrhic and trochaic feet, Counterpointing, alliteration, and similar devices raise the melody of the verse. Irregular syntax, unfamiliar use of words such as addressing God as ‘Sir’‘, happy and novel diction such as ‘thralls of lust’, ‘Time’s eunuch’ etc , are use of familiar words in different senses such as breed, build, wake, roots, rain etc.  Clearly show the technical and innovative mastery of the poet. Themes The manifestation of god in nature. Critical Appreciation Thus, this is a highly finished sonnet which, written towards the end of Hopkins’s life sums up the author’s final considered judgement on his life’s work. In his agonizing prayer to God, Hopkins here comes face to face with the fragmentary nature of his work, his unachieved aims, and his blighted prospects as priest, scholar, and poet. The manner in which God has been addressed in this poem (“sir”, “thou my friend”) is in sharp contrast with anything to be found in Hopkins’s earlier poetry. The attitude here is not one of adoration or deep reverence. Hopkins here speaks to God respectfully enough, but the respect is of the kind a man might show to another, wiser and more experienced, from whom he seeks guidance and enlightenment. Hopkins no longer adopts an attitude of self-abasement; he has become almost self-assertive. He speaks to God on equal terms, and he seems to insist that his queries should be answered: Why do sinners’ ways prosper? And why must Disappointment all I endeavor end? Hopkins would like to know the reason behind his disappointments. The earlier Hopkins would no doubt have replied that his faith was being tested through these disappointments. But this no longer satisfies him. The problem that now confronts him is that of reconciling faith and reason. Can faith be entirely divorced from reason, and, if so, how to distinguish between faith and mere reason? To deny ones intelligence, to forget the questioning mind, is to deny one’s humanity, and this Hopkins cannot now do. However, the belief in god is still strongly here. For one moment Hopkins, dares to contemplate the possibility of God’s being against him, but immediately it is followed by a rush of affection.