Gerard Manley Hopkins's Pied Beauty - Research Paper Example

Gerard Manley Hopkins “Pied Beauty” Hopkins had for the longest time identified his talents in spoken and written poetry. He employed very many stylistic devices that left all his audiences speechless and attracted. His accurate use of imagery ensured that he had the ability to relate to many objects and aspects around him. He is credited to doing very many artistic things with his life. Before he discovered his love for poetry, he had concentrated on painting. This is because he loved the artistic composition of general works and paintings by many great artists and painters. This inspired him to paint and create an avenue for the flow of the creative juices that he was experiencing. Everything that he touched was a masterpiece. This meant that it attracted very many people who were enchanted by his works. Amongst his greatest works include the Pied Beauty, Gathering of Verses, and Philosophers Stone amongst many others (Hopkins, p 1-6). This paper aims to look and understand the elements employed in “Pied Beauty”. This is in relation to the artistic elements that the author used to ensure that he passed the message across. It looks keenly at what the subject of the poem is, who was the intended audience and the elements that were used by the poet. This is for purposes of understanding the thoughts of the author in relation to the topic in question at each and every step. This will be beneficial for all that aim to understand what the poem is about and what inspired it. Pied Beauty is a poem that talks about the magnificent environment that God has created for us. Human beings do not realize the Lord’s intricate plans as he placed each and everything as it is currently. The poem starts with a salutation. The salutation then follows all the different but beautiful things that are placed as strategically as they are. “Glory be to God for dappled things—“(Hopkins, p 1) is the line that begins the poem. At each and every step, the author ensures that he has explained the reasons for his thoughts and analogies. He goes ahead to explain that, behind everything that is observed by humans, there is a logical explanation. This explanation is sometimes ignored by the human eye. This is because of the aspects that make up a human being. But this notwithstanding, God has given humans an active chance to bask and enjoy what he has created (Hopkins, p 1). As is the norm with the author, he has employed good use of repetitive rhyming sounds that complement what he aspires to say. Words like dappled, tackle, fickle and stipple have been used at different forms to mean different things in the poem. They complement the thoughts of the author as they provide an active channel for a musical flow line (Hollander, p 12). His nature of creativity can be seen in the general presentation of the poem. When it begins, it starts by thanking God for taking his time for all his creations. It is at this point that the poem takes a turn and praises all the creations that the Lord created. When the poem is looked at form a different angle, a different message is communicated. The end of the poem and its last four stanzas begin by highlighting varied characteristics in life and then drawing a deep connection to the creator. Pied Beauty employs these complementary traits without losing the audience or communicating a message to any person reading the poem (Harmon, p 41). The poem has employed the great use of different components of variety. This has provided an active chance to compare different phenomena to the topic in question. Hopkins notes that skies, Rose moles and fire coals are indeed a representation of the marvelous work that God did with his creation. As much as the items mentioned are very different, they complement each other to bring forth a unique aspect of the topic subject. The environment contains very many things that can be witnessed from very many different angles. These angles are normally ignored by the person who is contained in the environment. This should not be the case because the elements of creations require praise at each and every step of the way. This is because everything is well coordinated to work in a certain way and yield certain results (Harmon, p 12). The author has used the general process of juxtaposing to create a situation that could have been ignored (Harmon, p 13). The author takes the time to talk about the nature of God. He compares this nature to that of the human beings that are a representation of God’s work. What remains absolutely clear is the fact that God does not change at any one point. This is despite what his creations do in any given situation. God’s creation, on the other hand, change every other time that they experience situation that is either contrary or in sync with their expectations. The use of the juxtaposing feature creates an opportunity for the audience to understand the difference between God and his creation. The author has also juxtaposed God’s aspect of creativity with the general process of creation. This is to ensure that everyone who reads the poem can differentiate between the two processes. There is a very big difference between what each and every creature that God created and aspects of creativity that he has carefully coordinated for his creation. After the creation of the things in the environment, God employed creativity to ensure that each and every part of his creation has form and meaning. Through all this, these creations have been placed in such a way that they should co-exist peacefully with each other. This is the sole reason as to why he sits backs and looks at his creation. Once he has done that, he expects various different things form his creations. These things should complement other creations and his overall expectations. The use of contrast in the poem has a general aim. It is the duty of each and every person to understand the different aspects that make life what it is. The author has used contrasting colors, feelings and texture to communicate his observations of the environment that contains us. This means that, at each and every step, the environment is home for different people who have different capacities. Despite their contrasting features, God placed them in one environment. This is because he knew that they have the capacity to live and co-exist peacefully with each other. This is despite their contrasting traits. The multi colored rainbow would be useless if there was no sky. The land would be bare and plain if man was not there to plough it, or animals to graze. This means that despite the fact that they are so different, God creatively put them in an environment where they would need each other (Harmon, p 19). In conclusion, it is important to note that the poet had the general aim of communicating what he saw around him. This was for the general purpose of ensuring that each and every person had the time to praise God for the creative work that he had done (White p 4). This has been creatively done by the author who uses aspects of contract, juxtaposing, variety and observation to complete the poem. The title suits the poem because it talks about a certain beauty. This is the beauty that is represented by two or many colors. These colors together form a perfect hue. They would not have this ability of they were to stand on their own. This is because their beauty and strength in attracting will be limited or inhibited if they did so. And in the symbolic and magnificent way that the poem begins, it comes to an end. The end is also as juicy and educating as the beginning. This is because of its elements are arranged in the most communicative way possible (Hopkins, p 32). Works Cited Harmon, W. The Classic Hundred Poems (Second Edition). New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. Hollander, J. Rhyme's Reason. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. Hopkins, G. M. Gerard Manley Hopkins by Catherine Phillips. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Preminger, A., Terry, V. F., & Warnke, F. J. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Sagar, K. Hopkins and the Religion of the Diamond Body in Literature and the Crime against Nature. London: Chaucer Press, 2005. White, N. Hopkins - A literary Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Appendix 1-Pied Beauty 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 Read More