Sunday, July 28, 2013

Poem: "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
  For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
    For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
  Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;       
    And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
 
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
  Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
    With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:      
                  Praise him.
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4 comments:

  1. claire bangasserJuly 28, 2013 at 1:37 AM

    Beautiful, thank you.

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  2. LyndaJuly 29, 2013 at 8:05 AM

    I love the sound of the words that Gerard Manley Hopkins has chosen - sound in poetry is as important to me as meaning. All those beautiful sounds sandwiched between the powerful commands of "Glory" and "Praise"!

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    Replies
    1. John Predmore, S.J.July 29, 2013 at 8:25 AM

      Oh, these are great words to speak aloud. They do produce great sounds in a wonderful hymn of praise.

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