Pied Beauty Analysis

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The Tone of Religious Devotion in Hopkins’ PIED BEAUTY

Being a sensuous poet and a Roman Catholic priest at the same time, Hopkins’ poetry bears the stamp of his sensibility( as a poet) and his devotional spirit ( as a priest). These two often trigger a conflict and generate a lot of tension in his poems. Nevertheless ,this contradiction seems to be resolved and both, the poet and the priest , seem to be in harmony in ”Pied Beauty”.
The poem opens with the poet’s reverence for God- the Creator . The first line sounds like a faithful and powerful declaration : ” Glory be to God for dappled things”
”This line stems from Hopkins’ Jesuit society of St. Ignatius Loyola, “Ad majorem Dei gloriam”, which, when translated,
…show more content…
Hopkins begins with praise of God creating poly-coloured, poly-shaped, poly-natured things created by the Supreme Creator. God has created the “couple-colour” sky like the double colour cow. He has created the fresh water fish, trout with pink-dots on the back. The fallen chestnut is reddish brown like the hue of glowing fire. The Divine Architect also crafted landscapes isolated into separate plots: green pasture, brown uncultivated lands and grey ploughed fields. The final creation is of the “trades” or different occupation of man, with their rich diversity of appliances and equipments. The Creation of God (from Genesis), has been mentioned in this devotional poem with much …show more content…
God’s plenitude is seen in the variety or multiplicity of things in the world.” This theory supplied the inspiration for ”Pied beauty”.”In his vision of God’s loving kindness lavished on a world of lovely things in nature, the stress is not so much on God’s creative ability but on his creative ingenuity,so to speak.” (Kliger,408)
”Pied beauty” does not state merely that variety is the ”spice of life”(Kliger,410).Variety represents the food of life for the true believer.” The poem reflects an integrated religious experience with intelectual roots in a theory of God’s plenitude carefully nurtured by the church in which Hopkins found his spiritual home.” (Kliger,

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