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The document provides an analysis of Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem "The Windhover." It summarizes that the poem is a sonnet dedicated to Christ that describes a kestrel the poet saw flying, compares the bird's beauty to Christ's, and meditates on Christ's sacrifice allowing humans to enjoy life and nature. The analysis explains that Hopkins combines romantic fascination with nature and religious devotion, uses complicated language and syntax, and ultimately uses the bird as a symbol to express gratitude toward Christ for redemption and the beauty of the world.

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Abhishek M N
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214 views3 pages

Document 1

The document provides an analysis of Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem "The Windhover." It summarizes that the poem is a sonnet dedicated to Christ that describes a kestrel the poet saw flying, compares the bird's beauty to Christ's, and meditates on Christ's sacrifice allowing humans to enjoy life and nature. The analysis explains that Hopkins combines romantic fascination with nature and religious devotion, uses complicated language and syntax, and ultimately uses the bird as a symbol to express gratitude toward Christ for redemption and the beauty of the world.

Uploaded by

Abhishek M N
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Windhover: Gerard Manley Hopkins - Summary and Critical Analysis

The Windhover by Gerard Manley Hopkins is a semi-romantic, religious poem


dedicated to Christ. It is a usual Hopkinsian sonnet that begins with description of
nature and ends in meditation about God and Christ and his beauty, greatness and
grace. The poem also uses his usual sprung rhythm, Anglo-Saxon diction,
alliteration, internal rhyming, new compound metaphors, elliptical grammar and
complex threads of connotation.
Hopkins has mixed his romantic fascination with the nature with his religious favor of
gratitude towards God for giving us a beautiful nature. The beauty of nature is here
illustrated by a wonderful bird flying in the air. He describes a bird which he saw
flying in the sky that morning. Like in a romantic poem, he remembers the
experience to express his feelings. That morning, the speaker had been out at dawn.
From the excited description in the poem, we can infer that the speaker was
probably in the field. His attention was suddenly drawn by the scene of a bird flying
in the sky.
The first stanza of the poem is a description of the different tricks of the birds flight.
In the second the speaker remembers the beauty of Christ and says that he is a
billion times loveliest. So, claiming that the natures beauty is no wonder, he
concludes in the last stanza that everything he looks at reminds him the pain and
suffering of Christ which has made human life so beautiful and given this opportunity
to enjoy it. To this devotee of Christ, everything brings the image of Christ and his
wounds and pain and sacrifice. This suggests that he always remembers and
becomes thankful to Christ. As the subtitle suggests, the poem is a thanksgiving to
Christ.
The Windhover is a sonnet whose octave describes the flight of a kestrel (windhover)
that he saw that morning. The sestet is divided in two parts: the first three lines are
about the bird and the comparison of the bird with Christ who is a billion times

lovelier, and the last three lines express his memories and appreciation of Christ.
But the poem is rather difficult because the poet has used odd old English words,
only implications, and Christian symbols to suggest the pain (gall), wound (gash),
blood (vermillion), sacrifice, and so the greatness of Christ. The bottom-line of the
difficult ideas in this poem is that it is because of the sacrifice of Christ that we have
such a life, and we can enjoy the majestic beauty of the nature: so we should thank
him.
The speaker compares the bird with Christ, my chevalier, who is a billion times
lovelier, more brute (wild) and dangerous (consuming) in his beauty. The fire or
brilliance of Christ is dazzling this bird is no wonder. No wonder, says the poet
about the bird because the real wonder of the world is another supreme gift of God,
his son, the Christ. His steps on the soil make a semblance (shape) of a wound
(gash) when the blood-red (vermilion) and golden light of the sun is cast on it. The
flight of the bird reminds the speaker of his Christs crucifixion; his blood falls on us
for redemption: his suffering (gall) is also another thing to remember.
The last stanza associatively brings together unrelated words, each telling
something about Christ and his suffering and sacrifice for human beings. The
description of the first stanza and the comparison of the second stanza are all
forgotten when the poet deeply meditates and exalts in the sacrifice and greatness of
Christ in the last three-line stanza. The red ember-like the light of the morning sun on
the horizon of the blue-bleak sky and he is lost in contemplation.
The poem is almost impossible to understand without good background knowledge
about Hopkinss ideas and his odd words. There are many words of the Anglo-Saxon
origin like rung (past tense of ring meaning go round), minion, dauphin, chevalier
(prince), etc. There are also unusual combinations like dapple-dawn-drawn, which
is an image of the bird. The last stanza is particularly complex because of the
associatively linked words related to Christ and his sacrifice. Finally, the grammar is

also odd; actually the poem does not follow any traditional grammar and structure. In
short, the poem can be discussed as a sonnet because it has some of the features
of the typical sonnet, but it must be called a modified sonnet adapted to a different
kind of subject, word-game and music.
By implication, the poem is therefore a poem of thanksgiving to Christ. It is a hymn
that is romantic in form but religious in theme. When the poet sees the beautiful bird,
he is reminded of Christ and becomes thankful and appreciative of him. The poems
theme is therefore related to the poets praise of Christ rather than being about the
bird.

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