Poetry Madness #3

"Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1877)


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 áll trádes, 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.

Poetry Madness #2

"Spring and Fall" by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1880)


To a young child 

Margaret, are you grieving 
Over Goldengrove unleaving? 
Leaves, like the things of man, you 
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you? 
Ah! as the heart grows older 
It will come to such sights colder 
By and by, nor spare a sigh 
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie; 
And yet you will weep know why. 
Now no matter, child, the name: 
Sorrow’s springs are the same. 
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed 
What heart heard of, ghost guessed: 
It is the blight man was born for, 
It is Margaret you mourn for.

Poetry Madness #1

"God's Grandeur" by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1877)

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.

Title: Idea of God's power and greatness, impressiveness; also the idea of something visual to display that (like nature)


Paraphrase: The earth is full of God's power (it charges through it like an electrical current). But it is also temporary and will fade away. Men forget that God made nature, so they abuse it.  Trade and industrialization have caused men to destroy nature (on the surface) and they are no longer in touch with it. But nature never dies. Beneath the surface, it thrives because God looks after His creation.


Devices:
Simile:
"It will flame out, like shining from shook foil"

• When you shine light on foil and then shake it, it goes away.
• The world is temporary, like light on foil.

Imagery:
"Seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil"

• Trade/industry have hurt nature
• But the words used imply that only the surface has been touched.

"The soil is bare now, nor can fool feel, being shod"

• Men are out of touch with nature.

"Holy Ghost over bent world broods...bright wings"

• God cares for His creation

Repetition:
"Generations have trod, have trod, have trod"

• Exhaustion and endless toil.

Attitude: The speaker seems upset with men, who have ruined nature with their endless industrial toil. But he remains hopeful that beneath the surface nature is thriving thanks to the Holy Spirit's constant care.


Shifts: There are two. One after "crushed" in line 4 and one at the end of line 8.


Title: God is so grand that despite man's dirtying of the earth He can sustain it. This is His ultimate grandeur...that nothing can mess up what He does.


Theme/Total Meaning:

• Man has forgotten God and has made nature ugly, but God is more powerful than that. He can and does sustain nature.
• This earth is temporary, but God is eternal.

Accompanist

This is the piece I talked about in class. It's called "Romanze for Viola" and it's by Max Bruch. It's really beautiful, and if you have time you can watch it, but that isn't really necessary for the poem. 

It's really become a "symbol" for my life over the past several years, or at least it parallels it almost perfectly. My poem isn't actually about the piece itself, but the accompanist. You'll notice if you watch the video that as it gets more and more crazy, both musically and technically, the piano becomes much more present. There's a point where the viola finally gives up a little, and the piano has a big thing. Then the viola comes in, and from then on the piano and viola work together. The piano actually becomes a little more important than the viola, in my opinion, because it helps resolve all the chords and just makes the piece end on a good note, while the viola passively fades out. I know Max Bruch wrote this as a romance, but it doesn't say who the romance was between. I like to think of it being between me and God. God's the pianist, and I'm the violist.  


Sorry for such a long introduction. I just feel like that's important to understand. Sorry if I can't write very well...I tried to  do 7 syllables per line in the stanzas about God, and 6 in the other ones (since 7 is perfection in the Bible, and 6, aside from being part of the Beast's number in Revelation, is one short of 7). Hopefully it works well.

Accompanist

You were with me from the start,

But I always took control.

I ignored Your special role,

And forgot You were there first.

It started out just fine,

I think I sounded great.

But pretty soon I saw

That something was not there.

Life started to get hard,

I could not work things out.

My world became a mess,

There was no joy in reach.

I was a burdened wreck,

Sad almost every day.

And what I thought was worst,

Was only just the start.

Without You in my life,

Nothing could be just right.

Unresolved chords, then I

Spiraled out of control.

But among this broken mess,

When I was at my lowest,

You started working in me,

An accompanist at first.

Complimenting what I played,

Offering comfort at times,

But never undermining.

I slowly came to love You.

When I let you take control,

What I feared would be Your solo

Became a lovely duet.

I never stopped playing, but

You were the most important.

God let me fade away, 'till

I hear just your melody.

Resolve my hardest moments,

Be my life, my songs for you.