Page 94 - 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?

The first stanza lists a number of natural objects: animals, chestnuts, charcoal, and trout.
In the second stanza, the speaker seeks to apologize for these things. The saturation by
human consciousness is removed from nature by the speaker’s attempt at placing them as
creations and reflections of God rather than of man.

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?

For Hopkins, nature’s diversity points to the unity and permanence of God’s power and
inspires man to praise God.

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?

The lines are examples of allusion.

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

Answers may vary. Example: The chestnut is hard on the outside, but inside contains its
worth. Likewise, a fresh coal may be hard on the outside but contains heat on the inside.
Thus, to appreciate both, one must look below the exterior.

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.

The literary term for this is alliteration.

Answers may vary. Examples: “Glory” and “God” in line 1; “couple-color” and “cow” in
line 2; “fresh-firecoal” “-falls,” and “finches’” in line four.

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