The Windhover By GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

The Windhover

GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

To Christ our Lord

I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
    dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
    Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
    As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
    Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
    Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
   
   No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
    Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.







Unusual Words in Windhover

Line 1 : Minion - darling
Line 2 : Dauphin - french for eldest son of the king
Line 4 : Rung upon - to lead a horse in a circle on a long rein
wimpling: rippling
Line 10 : Buckle - either to fasten into one, or to collapse/crumble away.
Line 11 : Chevalier - french for knight, champion
Line 12 : Sillion - ridge between two furrows
Line 14 : Gall - break the surface  of.



Hopkins and a Summary of The Windhover



The Windhover is one of the best known sonnets by Gerard Manley Hopkins and was inspired by the sight of a small falcon, a kestrel, which often faces against the wind to hover above its prey. Hence the alternative name of windhover.
More significant however is the transformation of the bird into a spiritual symbol of Christ. As a Jesuit priest Hopkins was clear in his belief that the beauty in Nature mirrored the beauty of God. Much of his poetry was created in order to find a way to God, through the Christ figure.
Through observation and contemplation Hopkins was able to fulfil one of the spiritual exercises he practiced, created by Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus. Study of the natural world in particular inspired his poetry, which he hoped would express the love he had for beauty.
So a bird such as the kestrel, with its unique ability to hold itself steady in a wind and then suddenly with barely a wing move, swing and circle away, held a special place in the poet's heart.
The flight of the bird is 'represented in the rhythms and movements of the sound of the spoken poetry', so wrote Hopkins, a keen technical poet and creator of the unique sprung rhythm, which uses alliteration and varied stress beats to create unusually textured lines.