Analysis of The Woodlark

Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844 (Stratford, London) – 1889 (Dublin)



Teevo cheevo cheevio chee:
O where, what can tháat be?
Weedio-weedio: there again!
So tiny a trickle of sóng-strain;
And all round not to be found
For brier, bough, furrow, or gréen ground
Before or behind or far or at hand
Either left either right
Anywhere in the súnlight.
Well, after all! Ah but hark—
‘I am the little wóodlark.
. . . . . . . .
To-day the sky is two and two
With white strokes and strains of the blue
. . . . . . . .
Round a ring, around a ring
And while I sail (must listen) I sing
. . . . . . . .
The skylark is my cousin and he
Is known to men more than me
. . . . . . . .
…when the cry within
Says Go on then I go on
Till the longing is less and the good gone

But down drop, if it says Stop,
To the all-a-leaf of the tréetop
And after that off the bough
. . . . . . . .
I ám so véry, O soó very glad
That I dó thínk there is not to be had…
. . . . . . . .
The blue wheat-acre is underneath
And the braided ear breaks out of the sheath,
The ear in milk, lush the sash,
And crush-silk poppies aflash,
The blood-gush blade-gash
Flame-rash rudred
Bud shelling or broad-shed
Tatter-tassel-tangled and dingle-a-dangled
Dandy-hung dainty head.
. . . . . . . .
And down … the furrow dry
Sunspurge and oxeye
And laced-leaved lovely
Foam-tuft fumitory
. . . . . . . .
Through the velvety wind V-winged
To the nest’s nook I balance and buoy
With a sweet joy of a sweet joy,
Sweet, of a sweet, of a sweet joy
Of a sweet—a sweet—sweet—joy.’


Scheme AAXXBBXXBCC DD EE AA XXX FFX GG HHIAIBJXJ KXAK XALLL
Poetic Form
Metre 1111 11111111 11101 1100101111 0111111 1101101111 0110111111 101101 100011 1101111 110101001 1 11011101 11101101 1 1010101 011111011 1 01111001 1111111 1 10101 1111111 1010110011 1111111 101011011 0101101 1 1111111101 111111111111 1 01110101 0010111101 0101101 011101 01111 111 110111 101010010010 101101 1 010101 101 01110 111 1 10100111 1011110010 10111011 11011011 1010111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,474
Words 250
Sentences 72
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 24, 27
Lines Amount 51
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 505
Words per stanza (avg) 156
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 27, 2023

1:15 min read
221

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Reverend Father Gerard Manley Hopkins, S. more…

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