Analysis of Barnfloor and Winepress

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



And he said, If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee?  out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?
     2 Kings VI: 27

Thou that on sin's wages starvest,
Behold we have the joy in harvest:
For us was gather'd the first fruits,
For us was lifted from the roots,
Sheaved in cruel bands, bruised sore,
Scourged upon the threshing-floor;
Where the upper mill-stone roof'd His head,
At morn we found the heavenly Bread,
And, on a thousand altars laid,
Christ our Sacrifice is made!

Thou whose dry plot for moisture gapes,
We shout with them that tread the grapes:
For us the Vine was fenced with thorn,
Five ways the precious branches torn;
Terrible fruit was on the tree
In the acre of Gethsemane;
For us by Calvary's distress
The wine was racked from the press;
Now in our altar-vessels stored
Is the sweet Vintage of our Lord.

In Joseph's garden they threw by
The riv'n Vine, leafless, lifeless, dry:
On Easter morn the Tree was forth,
In forty days reach'd heaven from earth;
Soon the whole world is overspread;
Ye weary, come into the shade.

The field where He has planted us
Shall shake her fruit as Libanus,
When He has sheaved us in His sheaf,
When He has made us bear his leaf. -
We scarcely call that banquet food,
But even our Saviour's and our blood,
We are so grafted on His wood.


Scheme AB CCAADDCCCC AAEEXEAACC BBXXCC AAFFCCC
Poetic Form Tetractys  (23%)
Metre 011101111111111110111101 11 1111101 011101010 11110011 11110101 1010111 101011 101011111 111101001 01010101 1101011 11111101 11111101 11011111 11010101 10011101 001011 111101 0111101 101010101 101101101 01010111 01110101 11010111 010111011 101111 11010101 01111101 110111 11111011 11111111 11011101 1101010101 11110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,307
Words 244
Sentences 8
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 2, 10, 10, 6, 7
Lines Amount 35
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 201
Words per stanza (avg) 49
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 17, 2023

1:15 min read
338

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Reverend Father Gerard Manley Hopkins, S. more…

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