Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Pied Beauty”

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.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1844-1889 – “Pied Beauty” from The Major Works

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3 responses

  1. luisa zambrotta Avatar
    luisa zambrotta

    Such a great poem!

    Like

  2. Jennifer Mugrage Avatar
    Jennifer Mugrage

    I love Hopkins’ cacophony.

    In a book by a psychologist (I think The Road Less Traveled), there was a patient to whom this poem had been very important when he was younger.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Tim Miller Avatar
    Tim Miller

    I’ll be honest that it’s hard to find single poems of GMH’s that land completely for me. Thankfully this is one. But sometimes they’re such a cacophony that the poems spin right off the table & onto the floor. …but even so, it’s great to think of somebody with such a weird sound emerging when he did. He clearly couldn’t help it.

    Like

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#231: The mythology of the moon – Human Voices Wake Us

An episode from 6/1/26: Tonight, we delve into the significance of the moon in mythology, religion, and folklore. I read from the Taschen Book of Symbols, the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, and Mircea Eliade’s Patterns in Comparative Religion.Finally, and most personally, I read about the history of Rosh Chodesh, the monthly Jewish holiday recognizing the New Moon. For this, I read a passage from Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz’s A Guide to Jewish Prayer.The best way to support the podcast is by leaving a review on Apple or Spotify, sharing it with others, or sending me a note on what you think. You can also order any of my books: Time and the River: From Columbine to the Invention of Fire, Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone. I've also edited a handful of books in the S4N Pocket Poems series. I also have a YouTube channel where I share poems and excerpts from these books, mostly as YouTube shorts.Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
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  8. #224: Let's talk about William Blake
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  10. #222: Seamus Heaney – 10 Essential Poems

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