Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins part 2.

In line 8 he uses "fickle" a word that means changeable. If a person is fickle he does not have strong loyalties to one person and may fall out of friendship as easily as he falls into it. "Freckled" is another marking (seen on the face and neck), usually it is the sun (during the summer) that will cause the freckles to be visible. Once the summer ends the freckles will fade until the following year.People with light skin or red hair are prone to develop them.

Hopkins uses parenthesis and a rhetorical question:"Who knows how?" We don't know how things come about. The poet is referring to lines 7 and 8 but he could also be talking about lines 1-8. In line 9 Hopkins uses words that contrast, three pairs of words, perhaps to develop his point about "counter." He uses alliteration of the s sound with movement, first of all: "swift" (quickly) compared to "slow" the opposite. Then he uses tastes (sensory words): "sweet" and "sour." His final pair is visual, connected to light. "Adazzle" is not used very often-think of the word dazzle and being dazzled with bright lights where you are almost blinded by them and compare this to the opposite of "dim."

In line 19 Hopkins has made up an expression. The term for this is coined. To coin an expression usually means to make it up. He is obviously meant to be God. "Fathers- forth" suggests that he is the father who has created the world. God's beauty is "past change" meaning unchangeable unlike nature's beauty which fades and dies to be replaced by new growth.

God's beauty is always constant. It also suggests perfection, or the closest we will ever come to understanding it. The last line is deliberately kept short with "Praise him." The rest of the poem speaks for itself and so Hopkins can afford to show his gratitude quite simply by ending with these two words.

The poem is enriched with well-chosen vocabulary to depict colour, markings and contrasts. He uses specific examples in nature to show God's glory and he moves into abstract thoughts towards the end of the poem.

Possible Question:

"Pied Beauty" shows praise to God for the beauty of nature. How does the poet do this? Quote from the poem to support your discussion and refer to techniques used by Hopkins.

Sprung Rhythm:

This is characteristic of Hopkins' poetry and it can be seen in Pied Beauty. It comes from Anglo-Saxon and traditional Welsh poetry. It is based on the number of stressed syllables in a line. Any number of unstressed syllables can be used. Each foot consists of a first strongly stressed syllable which either stands alone or is followed by unstressed syllables.

Glory/be to/God for/ is an example. I have underlined the words that are stressed.

The number of beats in each line is constant so the metrical form supports the poet's answer concerning the glorification of a constant God in an inconstant world. His poetical techniques have influenced many great British poets of the twentieth century. The poet's aim was to approximate the rhythms and style of normal speech.

Style:

He uses alliteration, compound words and condensed syntax.

Additional Comments/ENotes:

Religious ecstasy and enthusiasm are characteristics of his poetry. He is regarded as a nature poet and a religious poet. He was a member of the Jesuits. Pied Beauty opens and closes with variants of two mottoes of St. Ignatius of Loyala who was the founder of the Jesuits.
Ad majorem Dei gloriam (to the greater glory of God) to open the poem and Laus Deo semper (Praise be to God always) to close it.
Variety and contrast are the defining characteristics of Eternal God our Father and Creator. Instead of complaining and wasting all of his time, energy and resources in making everything the same and uniform, man must learn to appreciate this important characteristic of God and praise him always.
The poem counters this negative tendency of men by revealing the wide variety of contrasts which add colour and beauty to God's creation the Natural Universe. Everything has been created to be different and dissimilar.

Man in his foolishness constantly attempts to reshape nature according to his rules of symmetry and uniformity. He is convinced that God's creation is imperfect and he goes about organising and streamlining, making everything smooth and even. He swears by the mantra of sameness which results in drabness and monotony. Man's thoughtlessness distorts and perverts God's perfect plan for the Natural Universe. An interesting interpretation.

Bibliography: C.I.E.org.uk teachers' notes.
                         ENotes.com
                         www.poetryarchive.org
                         You Tube-readings of the poem.

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