Comment on the Romantic Elements in Hopkins’ Poems

Answer

Comment on the romantic elements in Hopkins’s poems you have read.

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) was an English poet and a Jesuit priest. His poems show deep religious faith and a love for nature. Although he lived in the Victorian age, many of his poems contain romantic elements. The Romantic poets, like Wordsworth and Keats, focused on nature, imagination, strong emotions, and the beauty of simple life. Hopkins also believed that nature is a mirror of God’s glory. In Hopkins’s poem, we find strong emotions and love for variety in nature, which are all romantic qualities. Let us now comment on the romantic elements in Hopkins’s poetry.

Love for Nature: One important Romantic element is love and admiration for nature. Hopkins, like the Romantic poets, deeply loved nature. In “Pied Beauty” (written in 1877), he praises God for the variety and colours in nature. He begins the poem with:

“Glory be to God for dappled things —”

He praises God for creating the sky with mixed colours, spotted cows, and the dots on swimming trout (a kind of fish). He also praises the red-brown fallen chestnuts and the beautiful wings of finches. He sees beauty in farmlands. So, Hopkins carefully observes small details in nature and finds joy in them. This love for nature is a strong Romantic element.

God in Nature: For the Romantic poets, nature was not just a thing of beauty. They found deeper meaning in nature. Hopkins found God’s glory in nature. In “The Windhover” (1887), Hopkins sees a falcon flying in the sky. He describes the falcon’s beauty and power as it flies. It is riding the wind. It dives, glides, and turns beautifully in the air. The poet depicts it as the morning’s favorite and the prince of daylight.

…Morning’s minion, king-

dom of daylight’s dauphin…”

Hopkins sees the majesty of God’s creation in the beauty of the bird. In this poem, Hopkins shows how something