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
: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
How wonderful. You’ve given me insight into why Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poems are like music to me. He paid as much attention to sound as to meaning.
I’ve always wished more poets invented words the way he did.
Thank you for your comment. Yes, Hopkins achieves an extraordinary richness sound and meaning. It’s tragic that he died without ever realising what a tremendous impact his poems would make on English literature.
@anosensei That is very sad, though not uncommon for artists of many sorts. I often wish that a particular composer or writer could see into the future or somehow come to life again for that reason. I hope the experience of writing such extraordinarily beautiful and creative poetry was some reward.
@EchoCreekStudio Yes, indeed. There are many in the art world – Vermeer, Van Gogh… Keats and Emily Brontë are probably among the best-known examples in English literature, along with Hopkins.
I really must start putting together some videos on some of the women writers who didn’t even come into the curriculum when I was a student! And I can’t resist giving a plug for _Variable Stars_ , by my old old friend Christina Koning, on Caroline Herschel, “sister of the more famous William”.
So many lights under bushels! And, of course, there must be many more whose names remained as obscure after their death as they were in life.
Thank you again for your comments!
@anosensei And I had not even heard of the “more famous” William! Fascinating. I’m ordering the book.
Many composers had their great (and now much-loved) works booed or dismissed. It’s terrible.
Ah, beautiful (but sad)!
Yes, indeed. Even more poignant when we reflect that he was a kind of van Gogh of poetry – virtually unknown while he lived, only to gain huge recognition after his death.
I have a question What’s the tone of this poem ? Is it talking about sorrows and misery or something else!
What sort of autumn day do you imagine at the beginning of the poem? How do you picture “Goldengrove”? The word itself, the image of the little girl crying for the falling leaves, the feminine rhymes – all these create a rather glowing, sentimental picture, don’t they? And, as I say in the video, all that changes with the word “colder”, where the tone becomes much bleaker.
Hopkins is not talking about “sorrows and misery” in a general sense. His theme is very specific. The little girl thinks she is crying for the falling leaves, but the poet knows that, unconsciously, she is crying for herself. She intuitively knows that if a leaf can die so can she.
Overall, the poet maintains a tone of compassion, calling her “child” in line 10, and not using “the name” of “the blight man was born for” (that is, of course, death) out of consideration for her tender years. He is gentle and kind about it, but at the same time he reveals the truth – “Sorrows springs are the same”; all human sorrow, in the end, whether we know it or not, comes down to the fact that we are mortal, that one day we will die.
That’s about as much as I can say, really. Poetry appreciation is about each reader establishing their own relationship with the poem. We can learn from others – I have read other people’s reactions to this poem, and to some extent they have shaped my own response – but in the end what really matters is what the poem means to you; how do you see it?
@anosensei The most beautiful analysis of this poem I’ve seen! How minutely and deeply it’s done! Looking forward to hear a lot more from you sensei.
@volgamalwewa9425 Thank you for your kind comment, Volga. I’ve got a lot going on at the moment, but I’m certainly planning to make more videos in the not-too-distant future!