Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins part 1.


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, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

The poem was published in 1918 although it was written in 1877. Hopkins was a Victorian poet who achieved fame when he died (posthumously).

It is presented as a compressed sonnet or a curtal sonnet of 11 lines as opposed to a traditional 14-lined sonnet. A traditional sonnet is a love poem and Hopkins' poem is similar in that it praises God for the beauty of nature, it shows his appreciation and acknowledges that God is the creator ("he fathers-forth") of this beauty so he praises him.

There are two main themes: religion and nature. Religion dominates the poem because, according to the poet, it is God that has created this beauty and he should be praised ("Glory be to God" and "Praise him.") Nature is equally as important and Hopkins uses specific examples such as the skies, brinded cows, trout, chestnuts, the landscape, trades (workers) and their equipment. These are tangible things-we can see them.

He also praises intangible things which are abstract such as counter and original. He uses markings on natural things and says this is God's beauty, not plain things, colourful and different. Note all the words connected to different kinds of markings. They mean slightly different things:

Pied: having two or more different colours;
Stipple: dapple surface with dots or speckles;
Dappled: spotted with different colours or patches;
Brinded/Brindled: streaked with darker colours (usually tawny brown or grey marked with darker streaks or patches);
Pie Bald: (similar to pied)-with coloured patches used for a horse whose coat has patches of 2 or more contrasting colours (usually a black/white combination);
Others: additional words but which are not used in the poem: multi-coloured, mottled, flecked or variegated.

In line 2 "couple-colour" suggests the colours are related. Blended is a good word to use, something that suggests that there is a close relationship between the skies and presumably he is thinking of the clouds, i.e. a blue sky and white clouds. He uses a simile-skies of "couple-colour" which is compared to a cow that is streaked with (darker) colours.

In line 3 he refers to the markings on the trout, moles which are rose-coloured, dots or speckles ("stipple"). In line 4 the poet praises God for chestnuts which fall from the trees like burning firecoal. He doesn't use a simile but still shows a comparison between the two objects as if he is using one. The colour is glowing (red, orange, yellow hue perhaps?)

In line 5 he praises the landscape which has been "plotted" (marked into plots) and "pieced" (basically the same thing-divided). If the field is "fold" it has been prepared for crop-growing and seeds may well have been planted. "Fallow" means the field is empty of crops, unseeded. Nutrients must be put back into the soil before seeds are planted. The field may remain fallow for one year. A ploughed field is where the soil is broken up ready for more planting.

In line 6"trades" refer to skilled workers. Perhaps Hopkins is thinking about different farm labourers and all the equipment they need to carry out their work? He uses gear, tackle and trim, generalised words for their tools. At this point in the poem, Hopkins stops giving specific examples and becomes more general. He also makes a fleeting reference to man.

A Shift in Stance/Perspective:
You can use this expression to refer to a change in direction of thought. After having given lots of specific examples of God's beauty, he generalises and now he is going to use abstract terms (intangible). He wants to show gratitude for so many things so he goes into an abstract mode: line 7 "counter" as in counter argument. Think about your debates, speaking for a motion or proposal is one thing but arguing against is a counter-argument. It means a contradiction or opposition to something.

He is thanking God for things that contradict as well as things which are "original" (one of a kind, very different from anything else), "spare" extra, excess and "strange" something hard to explain or perhaps just different?
A suggestion might well be that if everything was the same and we didn't have any conflict, the world would not be an exciting place, would it? Other suggestions are that the world changes but not God. His beauty remains.

to be continued...............................................................................................................................

COPYRIGHT 2013. Permission must be obtained from the author before reproduction of this article.

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