Gerard Manly Hopkins is a beautiful writer; his poems tend to drift more to a spiritual side which is understandable because he was a preacher. The poem “God’s Grandeur” is a very exquisite poem it talks about the world that surrounds us. The poem has many great qualities a personal favorite of mine is the change of the mood throughout the poem from happy to sad to an almost dream-like state.
In the first three lines the tone is a happy one the type of tone that can put a smile on your face. It relates to the world which is a symbol. The world isn’t just the world, but it is the masterpiece that the Lord has so graciously let us live on. When Hopkins talks about the world he talks about it with so much awe, and respect. Then there is a sudden shift in tone from lines four through eight. Hopkins tone goes from awe and respect to angry and disbelief. Humans have been living on the world for centuries, and the world was once something that you could look at and see the beauty. Now people see land and wonder what they can put in that tree’s spot. “Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.” People could once appreciate the world and its beauty feel the earth my pinching it between your toes. Just like walking on the beach barefoot. Now though people have a different view of things. Since this is the way that people are treating the Lord’s masterpiece Hopkins is upset and angry.
The second stanza of the poem has soothing tone. Personally it sounds like a mother talking to a child who has had a nightmare. Hopkins fills this stanza with how the world should be viewed. Through this I feel that Hopkins is trying to send us all messages saying that we the people do take the world for granted, but as the Lord’s children he has forgiven us. “And for all this, nature is never spent;” this is the first line of the second stanza. This line is saying that nature is a representation of the Lord and he will always be standing.
Many poems will be a speaker speaking to someone relaying a message or telling a story. In “God’s Grandeur” there is not a speaker in the poem, but the speaker is outside of the poem. The speaker is Gerard Manly Hopkins the author of the poem. The someone he is speaking to is also not in the poem, but outside of the poem. He is speaking to everyone who reads the poem telling everyone his message. His message isn’t just meant for one person it’s meant for everyone. The theme that I interpreted from this poem is that people take the world for granted and we are ruining it. We need to look as the world has the Lord’s grandeur. He made this place for us to thrive, and live on. The least we can do is take care of it like the Lord takes care of us.
After reading this poem I was left with mixed feelings. As he switched tones I switched moods. So in turn I went from being in awe to angry to going back to feeling like a child. I was in awe thought the first three lines because of his writing. “It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil.” This line put me in awe. The ooze of oil, oil when reflected in the sunlight looks gorgeous with all the colors swirling around with the curves of the oil. It’s something that puts me into awe because how could something so dirty be so beautiful at the same time. The first word of the fourth line is crushed which automatically changes your mood and feelings. You want to know what is crushed, and how it has been crushed. I then became angry because I felt that human was crushing the world. The last stanza made me feel like a child again. When I woke up with a nightmare, and my mother or father would change their tone one you only really hear when they are trying to calm you from something that is in your head. It is a soothing tone that Hopkins takes in his last stanza. I feel like he is telling us that everyone is going to be ok we just have to take on that innocence of a child. We have to at least try and look at the world like something more than just an object.
Hopkins achieves the feelings that I felt through diction, and imagery. The words he chose is what really made me feel the feelings I was feeling. Words such as crushed, warm, and shining. The word crushed symbolized that something bad has happened, and needs repairing. Shining makes me think of the sun coming through the clouds and doing the miracle shine. This is when you can see the rays of sun which it makes it look heavenly, which is why I felt the awe I did when I first read the stanza. Warm makes me think of the warmth of a hug. When you are feeling low, and you are scared you just want to feel that warmth of something to make you feel safe, and feel like nothing can go wrong. Throughout the last stanza I kept picturing this huge tree that has grown, the tree has the sun shining through the leave making the miracle shine I mentioned earlier. I think of this giant tree because I feel like it is something powerful. The opening line to this stanza is “…nature is never spent;” I feel like this giant tree I imagined could never get spent, it will always be there to stand tall.
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