Pied Beauty

[Beverly S]

Some poems are sure hard to understand. But I do love poetry! Some more than others. Some are frustrating. Some are beautiful. Some are a combination of both. Such as this poem:

Glory be to God for dappled things -
For skies of couple-color 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 plow;
And all trades, 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.


By Gerard Manley Hopkins

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[Virgil]

One of my favorites Bev. But I don't find it too complicated. The theme is overtly stated: "All things counter, original, spare, strange;/Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)". The beauty is in the choice of words, the alliteration and the sprung rhythm.

[blazeofglory]

Some poems are sure hard to understand. But I do love poetry! Some more than others. Some are frustrating. Some are beautiful. Some are a combination of both. Such as this poem:

Glory be to God for dappled things -
For skies of couple-color 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 plow;
And all trades, 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.

Poems are of that nature, and of course they are not fully manifest. Therein lies the difference between poetry and prose. For in prose things are lucid an d made simple whereas in poetry things are not fully elaborated.
That is why poems are a bit difficult and demands of us more readings.

[andave_ya]

I love this poem. It was in my literature book last year and I loved it! Dappled beauty...think of the sun piercing through the canopy of leaves to rest in dappled shades on the forest floor.

[TearsDoDrop]

i loved this poem too, especially the sound imagery. Lovely. Notice all the abrupt sounds "dapple, couple, fickle, freckle" - it gives the effect of how things are pieced in creation - varied, and yet beautiful.
PS: blaze of glory, can't believe found you here too. Guess who i am... lol.

[Kafka's Crow]

I don't know why, but I never liked Hopkins. I found him a bit 'over-done'.