God's Grandeur - Gerard Manley Hopkins

 

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God's Grandeur

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 then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

   And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

   And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.


And for all this, nature is never spent;

   There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

   Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs--

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

   World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

                                                                    Gerard Manley Hopkins - 1844-1889

(This poem is in the public domain.)

This poem is written in the form of a sonnet and seeks to celebrate God's greatness.

Stanza 1

In the first stanza of this poem, the poet recognises and celebrates God's greatness. The world is so charged - as if by an electrical current - with God's presence that it is unmistakable. However, humans' destruction of the natural environment, generation after generation, reveals an absolute disregard for all God has created. Lines 4-8 highlight that toil and trade consume humans' lives. Man is more concerned with commercial activity and this has resulted in the earth being polluted as everything is 'seared with trade' and 'shares man's smell'. All this creates an impression of humanity's destruction of the natural environment in pursuit of profit.

Stanza 2

Ending on a hopeful note, the second stanza shows that although mankind's actions have sullied the earth, 'nature is never spent'. The earth continues to renew itself because 'there lives the dearest freshness deep down things'. After every day ends, morning  returns with the sun rising in the east to signal new beginnings. The Holy Ghost, the source of nature's ability to replenish itself, is described as brooding over the world as an indication of his protectiveness and inclination to restore. 

Form

Sonnet (The first eight lines comprise the octave while the last six lines are the sestet.)

Literary Devices

Assonance -  seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil 

Alliteration -    'It gathers to a greatness', 'reck his rod', 'deep down'

Imagery - visual(predominant) - 'It will flame out, like shining from shook foil', olfactory -'shares man's smell' , tactile - 'smeared with toil'

*Search for other examples of these types of imagery in the poem.     

Simile - 'It will flame out, like shining from shook foil', 'It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil'

Repetition - 'Generations have trod, have trod, have trod'

Metaphor -  'The world is charged with the grandeur of God',  'the Holy Ghost over the bent/World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings'

Personification - 'There lives the dearest freshness deep down things'

Contrast - Man's destructiveness is contrasted with nature's ability to replenish itself.

Diction - Words like 'charged', 'flame out', 'greatness' and 'grandeur' convey God's magnificence. The greed, materialism and destructiveness of men are presented through the use of words like 'seared', 'trade', 'toil' and 'smudge'. Nature's regeneration is highlighted by words such as 'freshness', 'morning' and 'springs'.

The literary devices in this poem have the following functions:

1. They highlight God's magnificence and how it infuses the world.

2.  They demonstrate that humanity is too taken up with work and making money to acknowledge God's presence in the world.

3. They show that although man's actions have been devastating to the earth, nature continues to renew itself.

THEMES

  • Man versus Nature
  • Religion
  • The Natural Environment
  • Man's Materialism
TONE

At different points in the poem, you will see each of the following tones being conveyed:
  • admiration
  • reverence
  • concern

Remember tone is presented through the poet's use of language (word choice) and literary devices.


Bonus!! Click this link https://cxcenglishastudyhub.blogspot.com/2020/12/gods-grandeur-multiple-choice-english-b.html so you can be taken to another blog post that features multiple choice items on this poem.

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