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: sheer plod makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.
-Gerard Manly Hopkins
1 comment:
Try reading this poem outloud...The cadence of the language mimics the flight of the falcon. I love the phrase "rolling level underneath him steady air". GMH frequently uses odd words and grammatical structure to evoke a particular emotion.
I think he's caught a glimpse of the glory of God (his "chevalier" or knight) in the flight of the bird.
In the third stanza the metaphor changes--"sheer plod makes plough down sillion shine" is talking about the blade of a plough, and how the act of ploughing makes it shine. Likewise, breaking embers "gash gold-vermillion". So glory often shines forth in the midst of the mundane.
At any rate, that's what I think he's saying!
Post a Comment