God’s Grandeur, Gerarad Manley Hopkins

                                       God’s Grandeur

Summary

         God’s Grandeur is a sonnet composed by an English poet and catholic priest, G.M Hopkins. In this sonnet the poet sings the magnificence of the God and questions those atheists for their defiance to the Gods of authority.

               In the first quatrain of the poem, the poet describes the natural world energized with god's magnificence. It is shining like a shaken foil and gathers to greatness like the flow of oil, crushed in a mill then he questions the atheists for not following the commands of the god. The second quatrain describes the condition of the contemporary of human life. He says that the priority given to material activities over the spiritual values has left the world seared, blurred and smeared. The natural world has been littered and polluted but human beings can't feel the desertification of Earth because they have been cut off from the Earth as they are wearing shoes.

    The septet part of the poem testifies the perpetual regeneration of the God’s creation by his grace. In spite of the destructive activities carried out by the human beings, nature continues to infinity. Though burnt and blurred on the surface, things are still fresh at the core. The Sunset in the evening and its rise the next morning testify the continuity of nature. It is because the broken world is brooded by the Holy Ghost with his warm breast and bright wings. Here, the God is displayed as a guardian figure containing within himself the power and promise of rebirth. As a sonnet, the poem is divided into the octet and septet part offers a solution. The sonnet is quite musical with the rhyming pattern of abba abbba cdcdcd.

Questions

   1.    What is the central idea of poem?

    The poem God’s Grandeur was composed by G.M Hopkins revolves around the idea that human beings have been rendered (incapable of) in perceiving the natural world energized with the magnificence of God due to their preoccupation with trade and commerce. However, things are still fresh at the core and the nature continues to infinity due to the grace of God.

   2.    What do the words seared, blared, smeared suggest?

     Seared refers to burning of something like body parts or skin that leaves a scar interfering with the sense of sight, taste or touch. It damages the person ability to interact with the outside world.

    Smearing and blaring carry the sense of dirty smudge drawn across previously clear surface such as eyes or lens of glasses. It also distorts the image we get through the lens, taken together all these words imply that something beautiful has been damaged and the sense of perception compromised. These words explain why human beings cannot perceive the God’s Grandeur.

   3.     What does the poet say in the first quatrain and in the second?

     In the first four lines the poet praises the magnificence and glory of the god. He says that the world is replete with God’s Grandeur which bursts out in sudden flame or reveals itself as when the oil crushed from olive seeds slowly oozes out and gathers into a thick pool. He also wonders why men do not lead God’s rule and orders. In the second quatrain, the poet gives the reason behind man’s ignorance, indifference and heedlessness at the full-flowing presence of God. He says that it is because human world is infected with materialistic thinking. As a result, life has become monotonous and a dry routine for them. Men have given themselves completely to profit earning activities and defaced the beauty of nature by their filth and foul labour. They have grown numb to the feel of the Earth.

   4.     Summarize the last six lines in a sentence.

     In spite of all the havoc around, beauty and freshness flow eternally from the depths of nature because the Holy Ghost protects the world from generation to generation just as a dove protect its young ones with the warmth of its breast and wings.

   5.     What is the effect of the repetition of the words ‘have trode’?

    ‘Have Trode’ literally means ‘have walked’ (the same path). The use intensifies the meaning that the generations have followed the same worn out path of worldly pursuits simply ignoring God’s presence and power in the world. The world captures the mechanical quality of human activities largely due to the heavy accents. The repetition emphasizes the fact that generations to generations men have been accustomed to the same monotonous path of materialism and lost touch with God and the loving force of natural beauty.