Page 193 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

“Pied Beauty”
by Gerard Manley Hopkins, page 74

Vocabulary
dappled – spotted
brinded – streaked
stipple – to paint, draw
fickle – unstable, picky

1. How does this poem attempt to "free" nature from saturation by human consciousness?

2. The poem ends with the line "praise him"—i.e. praise God for the great diversity of things
as described in the first ten lines. How is the appreciation of nature's diversity, for Hopkins,
a kind of affirmation of God's creative energy?

3. Hopkins was a Jesuit priest, and as such knew the order’s motto well: Ad majorem dei
gloriam, or glory to God in the highest. This motto is briefly mentioned in the poem’s lines,
“Glory be to God,” and “Praise him.” What literary and poetic device are these references
examples of?

4. How might Hopkins defend his comparison of a chestnut to a piece of coal?

5. You might notice that this poem has a great deal of repetition of consonant sound. What is
the term for this technique that Hopkins uses so much? Provide and example.

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