We have changed our privacy policy. In addition, we use cookies on our website for various purposes. By continuing on our website, you consent to our use of cookies. You can learn about our practices by reading our privacy policy.

Pied Beauty

(3) Base Camp

In poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins, the sound is like a thread that guides you through each line. Even if you have never seen a chestnut, you know that when he says "Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls," he is talking about a "dappled thing" that is part of nature. His language is loaded like a spring, but his ideas are not complicated. That's it. Aside from a few lesser-known words like "brinded" and "stipple," there is not much to trouble even a new reader of poetry.