Hopkins, High and Low

Two of my favorites from Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889). The first exults in God, the other complains to God. The first could be Psalm 8 and the second could be Psalm 88. The first below was among his first written (in 1877) while the last below was his last (in 1889).

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 wear 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.

* “charged with the grandeur of God”—Hopkins liked to play on words: does charge mean “electric” or does it mean “ordered with the task of displaying God’s grandeur”?

* “last lights off the black West went”—Is “West” capitalized to signify the lands of former Christendom that no longer recognize God’s grandeur, or am I just reading this line too much in the light of Tolkien and the “Lord of the Rings”?

* “…and with ah! bright wings.”—What a nice surprise right at the end. It’s as if you’re standing with Hopkins at dawn just as the sun breaks over the horizon.

[Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord]

Justus quidem tu es, Domine, si disputem tecum; verumtamen justa loquar ad te: Quare via impiorum prosperatur? &c.*

Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend
With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just.
Why do sinners’ ways prosper? and why must
Disappointment all I endeavor end?

Wert thou my enemy, O thou my friend,
How wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost
Defeat, thwart me? Oh, the sots and thralls of lust
Do in spare hours more thrive than I that spend,

Sir, life upon thy cause.* See, banks and brakes
Now, leaved how thick! laced they are again
With fretty chervil, look, and fresh wind shakes

Them*; birds build—but not I build; no, but strain,
Time’s eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes.
Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.*

* The Latin phrase is the Vulgate version of Jeremiah 12:1 (KJV), “Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?” According to my book on Hopkins, this Latin line was the original title of the poem.

* You have to work at this line, but it reads like this: “Oh, the sots and thralls of lust do in spare hours more thrive than I that spend, sir, life upon thy cause.” In other words, “Lord, how come those who waste their lives in useless passions seem to get along far better than someone like me who has committed himself to your priorities?”

* Another difficult line: I can’t place the accent marks on this blog post where Hopkins places them, but the words “leaved” and “laced” should be pronounced “leave-ED” and “lace-ED.” A “brake” is a clump of fern and “fretty chervil” is interlaced parsley. The point is, he looks around and sees nature bursting with productivity, but he feels he’s nothing more than “Time’s eunuch”—barren of any results from his efforts.

* And the best line, at which he turns his frustration to prayer: “Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.” Does the “Mine” connect with “lord of life” or “roots”? I tend to think the latter, adding poignancy to how desperately his roots need God’s rain: “Others are benefiting, even nature is productive, so mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.”

_____________________________________
The genius of Hopkins’ poetry was “discovered” in 1918,
30 years after his obscure life closed.
_____________________________________

Find more favorite poems by clicking here.