Hopkins was a very interesting writer to read due to the fact that he devoted his life and writings to the ministry. The poem I have chose by Hopkins is God's Grandeur, which tell of his amazement of the workings of God. He really saw God's presence in all things, and detailed this in this poem.
"The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men not reck his rod." (775)
In this passage Hopkins speaks about how God is working in everything. The world in all its beauty comes directly from the beauty of God. Therefore Hopkins wonders why man does not appreciate it as God's work. We always praise the Romans and Greeks for their architecture, yet if you believe in God then it all goes back to him. We praise the people themselves instead of the God that created everything. This passage also speaks to the fact that people do not often respect the power that God holds over everything. We think of ourselves as being totally in control over all of our affairs instead of trusting God to help us through. Since I do believe in God this passage was especially meaningful because I do not always appreciate the things that God has made.
He then goes on to talk about how amazing the world truly is.
"All for this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And through the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward streams" (775)
Even as much as man has abused nature, It still remains intact. So as amazing a creation as nature was, it is as amazing that it is not already ruined. Recently I took a trip to Montana to visit Yellowstone and Glacier national parks. It was breathtaking to see the scenery and animals, and really allowed me to appreciate everything around me. It was nice to see that we still have some areas of wilderness that are not too far away. This poem took me back to my experience there as it helped me appreciate that experience even more.
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2 comments:
Jeremy,
You do a good job in this post of connecting Hopkins's words and images in his poem to your own beliefs and experiences. Nicely done.
Jeremy,
I too thought Hopkins was interesting to read because of his life work with the church. Another interesting fact about Hopkins is that he came up with his own verse...the "sprung rhythm" because he thought it was most like everyday language.
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