Summary of the Poem, The Windhover for BA students

-

 


Summary of the Poem, The Windhover

The Windhover is a sonnet written by Gerard Manley Hopkins in the year 1877. Hopkins dedicated the poem "to Christ our Lord". Hopkins is famous for his usage of sprung rhythm. He expresses his religious thoughts by highlighting the beauty of nature. He was inspired by nature and the manifestation of God in every living thing. In this poem Hopkins describes the beauty of a windhover, a bird of prey. This bird hovers around the mid -air during its hunt.

In the first stanza of the poem the poet admires the beauty of the bird. He hails the bird as the Prince of daylight. The bird flies in the mid – air with its majestic wings.  During flight it keeps full control over the air like a man controlling his horse. The bird motionlessly glides downwards like a man sliding in a snow. The way the bird dived exposed its buff over the strong wind. In the poet’s imagination, the windhover sits at a great height, looking proud, with authoritative look.

A Windhover has the attributes of beauty, honour, air, and feather. The ability and incredible beauty of this Falcon is designed by God’s mastery over his creation. The poet readily surrenders to Christ the creator of this Universe. The poet is able to see the grandeur in the falcon after surrendering himself to God. The sight of the bird is billion times lovelier than is visible at a superficial view. The speaker addresses the bird (Christ) as Chevalier.

Hopkins in his poem The Gods Grandeur explores the greatness of God in creating this wonderful universe,

“The world is charged with the grandeur of God

 It will flame out, like shining from shook foil.”

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Summary for At the Church Door

-
Image
At the Church Door -         Guy De Maupassant Guy De Maupassant is a prolific French Writer. He was influenced by a French writer Flaubert. His short story “At the Church Door” reflects real life and real people. This story is about a worried couple who have lost their son 20yrs before. The theme of this story is parent love for their children. The story centers around a Wheelwright and his wife. Both are looking for a peaceful and happy life. The only comfort is Jean, their son. Jean was born to them after a long period. Their life gets scattered when they discover their son missing at the age of five. Unable to bear the loss of their son both gathered all their wealth and went in search of him. They travelled to different places for around twenty years in search of Jean. Hearing to the advice of an innkeeper both travel to the crowded city, Paris.  They often stood in front of a church door. The Parish priest appoints the Wheel wright at the church door. The
Read more

Like an Old Proud King in a Parable A. J.M. Smith, Summary for BA Students.

-
Image
  Like an Old Proud King in a Parable A. J.M. Smith The Poem Like an Old Proud King in a Parable was written by the Canadian Poet, A.J.M Smith. This poem appeared in McGill Fortnightly Review in the year 1926. In this poem Smith narrates the story of an Old King who abandons his Kingdom to become a poet. This poem depicts the poetic career of Smith. Smith breaks some of the old poetic conventions and brings novelty into the society. A king is bored to forego the pleasure of the Kingdom. He renounces his kingdom, and leave his flattering courtiers and adoring wife. The king readily sacrifices the existing kingly life and moves to a lonely land, “a meadow in the Northern Stone”. Northern Stone is in the northern parts of Canada, a land of mountain, snow and forest filled with nature. The King rejoices to live his life along the meadow. In the meadow he feels like an uncontrollable swan, “the heart that controlled liked swan”. The King desires to give up his worldly life and aspir
Read more

Summary for the Play Strife by John Galsworthy

-
Image
                                                                                        Strife -        John Galsworthy Strife is a three-act play written by John Galsworthy. It is his third play and the play highlights the social issues. It was produced in the year 1909 at the Duke of York Theatre. The title “strife” has a biblical meaning which means bitter conflict. The theme in this play is capital and labour. The action takes place on 7 th february at the Trenartha Tin Plate Work. The factory workers involve in a prolonged strike. There arises a conflict between the company chairman John Anthony and the workers leader Roberts. Both are very stern and adamant to compromise. Anthony was the chairman for 32 years and he is determined to fight and win. In his thirty two years of experience he has won four strikes. He was certain that he could win the strike once more. The directors felt unfair about the stern nature of Anthony. The directors were aware about the outcome of this
Read more