Author: Ano Sensei
Format: Video
Structure: Falling rhythm, Sprung rhythm
Related content:
Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Spring and Fall": In-depth analysis - alliteration, rhyme, atmosphere, etc.
Full resource: https://educationalhub.org/spring-and-fall-to-a-young-child
I have made in-depth videos on Keats's Odes (https://tinyurl.com/anokeats), Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" (https://tinyurl.com/anokubla), Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" (https://tinyurl.com/anotintern) and ...many others? Subscribe and get the best poetry analysis videos on YouTube!
0:00 Intro
0:25 Preamble
0:46 Hopkins's use of rhythm
1:31 The "G", "R" and "V" sounds in the opening lines
2:13 The sound of the words "grieving" and "Goldengrove"
2:43 Consonance, alliteration and the positive and negative elements of the opening lines
3:13 Other examples of consonance and alliteration in the opening lines; the "L" and "K" sounds
3:46 The choice of words.
4:20 The rhyme scheme; "grieving" and "unleaving"
4:32 Framing the opening lines in question form
4:42 Assonance
4:57 The atmosphere of the poem changes
5:17 The use of the rhyme scheme to change the atmosphere
6:38 Diction: The use of the word "colder" to mark the change in atmosphere
6:57 Alliteration and consonance in the middle part of the poem
7:36 More on diction: The poet's choice of words in this middle section
8:25 The darker meaning of the poem
8:35 The final lines of the poem: Alliteration
9:13 The theme of death
9:53 What the little girl thinks she is crying for (the falling leaves) and what she is really crying for (her own death)
10:03 The rhyme scheme in the final lines
10:21 The poet's answer to the questions he asked at the beginning of the poem
10:45 Final comments on diction
Here I focus mainly on the way in which Hopkins uses the sound of the words to help create the atmosphere and tone of the poem. Subscribe to "Ano sensei!" and never miss another video!
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63 Comments
It’s been 4 years since you’ve uploaded this video but it is still of big help for students like me! I take an introduction to english literature course this term in uni, and your videos have been helping a lot. thank you sensei!
You are welcome! I’m glad you find them useful.
this video is a fever dream
Yeah, I was just getting started when I made this and I got a bit carried away with the effects.
Can I just ask if you came up with the idea of masculine and feminine rhymes yourself? Or are they to be found in a guide to poetry analysis/ writing? I suppose in today’s world, such concepts could be perceived as offensive by some groups, but I appreciate that they serve a descriptive purpose here 🙂
These are the standard terms. Here, for example, is the Britannica definition of masculine rhyme: https://www.britannica.com/art/masculine-rhyme. And here is the Britannica definition of feminine rhyme: https://www.britannica.com/art/feminine-rhyme.
@anosensei Thank you very much!! I’ll check that out 🙂
Spring and Fall is my favourite poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins! I made a video with a rendition of it recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1NpDkepqGM 🍁🌷Keep up the good work!
Yes, I saw your video & liked it. Well done!
Thank you sooo much ❤❤
You’re welcome!
Thank you for elucidating some aspects of this beautiful poem which I had just come across
You are most welcome! It is indeed a beautiful poem!
excellent! so much depth
Thank you for the feedback. I’m glad you liked it!
sir can you explain the william shakespeare’s sonnets 73 and 141
Very briefly, in Sonnet 73 Shakespeare imagines himself as an old man. The images in the opening lines compare old age to the onset of winter, when the leaves have fallen, and to the fading light of evening. The line “Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang” is, as Empson noted, almost certainly a veiled reference to the closure of the monasteries.
The sonnet’s conclusion is comparable to the conclusion of Sonnet 64 (which I have made an explanatory video of here: https://youtu.be/wugOLbLdYVo). In both poems, the intensity of love is tied to the fact that, in the end, we must inevitably lose that which we love.
141 is a “dark lady” sonnet, written to a woman who attracts him even though she is not beautiful. His love for her doesn’t bring him happiness, but he cannot help loving her. Compare sonnet 130, also a “dark lady” sonnet.
I’d like to make a video of all of Shakespeare’s sonnets, but life is short!
Splendid job! 🙂
Thank you! I’m glad you like it.
This was so helpful mr I hope I can be as smart as you one day thanks
Ha ha! Thank you for the feedback. I’m glad it was useful!
Why is the forest described as Goldengrove?
Well, it isn’t exactly a forest. A grove is a small wood, maybe a few dozen trees or even less. In England, the leaves on the trees turn brown in autumn and start to fall from the trees. Hopkins describes the grove as “golden” because the autumn sunlight is shining on the brown leaves, giving them a golden appearance. Does that make sense?
@anosensei Thank You Sir.
@anosensei the blight means?
@fahimhossain1176 A blight is normally a sickness or disease of plants, which fits with the setting of a grove of trees. But here he is saying it is “the blight man was born for”. A blight is a terrible thing, and we were all born to suffer a blight, a terrible thing. Can you imagine what that terrible thing is? We are all born to….
It’s best if you can find the answer to this yourself, so try to think about it. But if you can’t find the answer I will tell you!
Could you also tell about its meter ?
OK. Give me about an hour and I’ll upload something. It won’t be very flashy, but it’ll give you the basics!
@anosensei Okay! Thank you sir but could you also tell that the poetry which has more than 14 lines what we call it?
Sorry; I replied in a hurry. This video already gives information about the meter; rhythm and meter are basically referring to the same thing (the way the poet uses strong and weak syllables to achieve an effect) and I discuss rhythm in the first part of the video.
@Deepaulakh720 There is no special name for a poem that has fifteen lines. This is a bit like a sonnet with one extra line in it, but even then it is different, because it isn’t in iambic pentameters. Instead of five metrical feet, this poem has only four strong syllables in each line, with a varying number of weak ones.
Though it is a brief analysis it directs us to dive in to the depth of the poem.
There aren’t many videos like this which explains such marvelous poems of marvelous poets.
So I am grateful that you employ your talents in commenting on these kind of literary luminary poetry.
Thank you so much!!!
Thank you!
Smashable
Hopkins rocks!
This is incredible, I would have never spot these rhymes and techniques.
Love you man ❤️
Glad you enjoyed it!
I fully agree
@kawyachandrasekara3959 I’m glad you found it useful!
It was very clear and helpful.Thank you.
I’m glad you found it useful!
I have to take an “A” on my exam tomorrow because this is a brilliant explanation
I’m glad you found it useful. Good luck with your exam!
Wow! Great. Thank you sir. I am cleared now. I have exam tomorrow of the poetry. I guess this is very good prepare for it.
thanks💕
You are welcome. This analysis focuses mainly on the techniques used by the poet. It’s probably worth thinking about the Catholic theology that underpins the poem, and other aspects of the ideas and thought processes expressed in the poem, which I only touch on lightly.
Very helpful sir continue others
Thank you. I will!
I just made a series of videos on Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKW5yKJ82-Q&list=PLzVb6yL_jY68kvKQYjfOBXwK3NZyy0pCj
Wow ! You are a genius sir.
Hardly that, but thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it & found it useful.