10. Heritage of Words (God's Granduer) - Gerard Manley Hopinks

God's Grandeur 

BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

God's Grandeur 

“God’s Grandeur” is a sonnet written by the English Jesuit priest and poet Gerard Manly Hopkins. Hopkins wrote “God’s Grandeur” in 1877, but as with many of his poems, it wasn’t published until almost thirty years after his 1889 death. The word "grandeur" means grandness or magnificence. In "God's Grandeur" Hopkins conveys his reverence for the magnificence of God and nature, and his despair about the way that humanity has seemed to lose sight of the close connection between God and nature during the Second Industrial Revolution. Though the poem is a traditional 14-line sonnet, it's also an example of Hopkins’s characteristic use of unconventional poetic meters—though the meter of “God’s Grandeur” is actually more conventional than that of many of his other poems.

                                Poem                                 

  The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

  Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

  Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

    And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

  Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

 

  And for all this, nature is never spent;

    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

  And though the last lights off the black West went

    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —

 Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

 

God’s Grandeur Summary

God’s grandeur is a sonnet composed by an English poet and Catholic priest, GM Hopkins. In the sonnet, the poet sings the magnificence of the God and questions those atheists for their defiance to the god’s authority.

In the first quatrain of the poem, the poet describes the natural world energized with god’s magnificence. It is shining like shaken foil and gathers to a greatness like the flow of oil crushed in a mill.

Then, he questions the atheist for not following the commands of God. The second stanza describes the condition of contemporary human life. He says that the priority given to material activities over the spiritual values has left the world seared, bleared and smeared.

The glory of God is blurred by their focus on work. They have created a gap with nature by wearing shoes. Humans are not in contact with the real soil and they don’t know it’s smell.

The natural world has been littered and polluted but human beings can’t feel that desertification of earth because they have been cut off from the earth as there are wearing shoes.

The sestet part (the last six lines of the sonnet) of the poem testifies the perpetual regeneration of the god’s creation by his grace.

In spite of the destructive activities carried out by the human beings nature continues to infinity. Though brunt and blurred on the surface things are still fresh at the core. The sun sets in the evening and its rise the next morning with freshness, justify the continuity of the nature.

The poet also claims that nature is not selfish like humans. Nature is permanent it can never be spent. Nature renews itself automatically once it is destroyed. The poet says that there is freshness deep down the surface of the earth. It is because the broken world is brooded (protected) by the holy ghost with his warm breast and bright wings.

Here in the poem ‘God’s Grandeur’ the god is displayed as a guardian figure containing within himself the power and promise of rebirth.

Therefore, the poet believes that nature and god are the same. All creatures are able to survive because of the god. God is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. The poem is an example of Italian sonnet first eight lines talk about the general ideas were the last six-line express the main idea of the poem.

 

“God's Grandeur” Summary 2

o    The speaker describes a natural world through which God's presence runs like an electrical current, becoming momentarily visible in flame-like flashes that resemble the sparkling of metal foil when moved in the light. Alternately, the speaker describes God's presence as being like a rich oil (such as olive oil), whose true power or greatness is only revealed when crushed to its essence. Given this powerful undercurrent of evidence of God's presence in the world, the speaker asks, why do human beings not heed God’s divine authority? The speaker starts to answer his own question by describing the state of human life: the way that humanity over the generations has endlessly walked over the ground, and the way that industry and economic pursuits have damaged and corrupted the landscape such that it looks and smells only of men (and not of God). Not only has the land been stripped bare of the natural things that once lived upon it, but even the shoes that people now wear have cut off the physical connection between their feet and the earth they walk on.

And yet, the speaker asserts, nature never loses its power, and deep down life always continues to exist. Though the sun will always fade into the darkness of night in the west, morning will always follow by springing up over the edge of the horizon in the east. The source of this constant cycle of regeneration is the grace of a God who guards the broken world much like a mother bird uses its body to watch over and keep warm its eggs and hatchlings.

God's Grandeur” Summary 3

In his sonnet “God’s Grandeur” the poet G.M Hopkins praises the magnificence and glory of God. He describes the majestic deeds of God. He claims that God is omnipresent and omnipotent. The good deeds on earth are also the results of these qualities of God. Though human beings continuously destroy nature, it is never spent.

The world is full of the greatness of God. Due to His greatness, the world shines like ‘a shook foil’. It gathers to a greatness, as it is full of resources. Despite this fact, human beings act adversely. They don’t follow the commands of God; rather they function to destroy the world. Earlier generations destroyed the earth and so is the case with the present generation. People are more interested in materialist gain and possessions than in celebrating the glory of a loving, merciful, heavenly Father. They act as if they are not rational creatures. As a result of their deed, the earth has become dry; it has the smell of human beings instead of its natural smell. Indeed the earth has reached to the verge of destruction. Nevertheless, the world is not completely destroyed. Because of the freshness that is inside things, nature keeps on regenerating. The sun sets in the evening only to reappear in the morning. These happenings are the results of the god’s protection. He protects the earth just like a bird broods over the eggs.

Though the world is infused with the glory of God and Christ offered His body to be crucified, mankind does not live in awe of God, but imposes darkness on itself by running endlessly. Even so, despite humanity’s shortcomings, God is most capable of perfect love and embraces the world anyway. The poet is of the opinion that human beings acts are always directed towards destruction: knowingly or unknowingly. But God loves all the creatures of the world, so he works for the benefit of the creatures without any hope of benefit or profit. The poet inspires people to grow faith in God.

 

·         “God's Grandeur” Themes

o    God, Nature, and Man

The poem's very first line establishes the profound connection between God and nature that the speaker explores throughout "God's Grandeur." God is not connected to nature merely because God created nature. Rather, the speaker describes God as actively suffused within nature, as an ever-present "charge" running through it. Further, by describing God's grandeur as being something that will "flame out," or as being something as tangible as the oil that oozes from a crushed olive, the speaker makes an additional claim: that human beings can perceive, contemplate, or even interact with God through nature. The speaker reveres nature not only because it is a divine creation, but also because it is a direct conduit between humanity and God.

The belief in such a deep link among God, nature, and humanity explains the speaker's despair about how humanity is ruining the natural world. In destroying nature ("sear[ing]", "smear[ing]", and "blear[ing]" it), humanity is destroying God's creation and severing its own connection to God. Even worse, humanity is not only destroying nature, but replacing the pristine sights, sounds, and smells of the natural world—and God's "charge" within it— with the "smudge" and "smell" of human beings.

At the same time, nature's connection to God gives the speaker hope: because it is the creation of an omnipotent God who continues to watch over the world, nature can never be obscured or ruined by human beings. The natural cycles of life and death (implied by the references to sunset followed by sunrise), and the fact that God is still fulfilling his "charge" to protect nature (the way a mother bird "broods" over an egg), give the speaker confidence that nature will endure humanity's plundering and be reborn. Yet the speaker seems unsure about humanity's own place within nature's endless cycles: it's unclear if the speaker's vision of a reborn world includes humanity or not.

Some Important Questions And Answers From “God’s Grandeur”

Question. What is the central idea of the poem “God’s Grandeur”?

Answer. The poem God’s Grandeur composed by GM Hopkins revolves around the idea that human beings have been rendered incapable of perceiving the natural world energized with the magnificence of the God due to their preoccupation with trade and commerce. Hever, things are still fresh at the core and the nature continues to infinity due to the grace of God.

The poem tells that the grace of God is coming to us like an electric current, invisible but present. The magnificence of God gathers to a greatness like the ooze of oil as the mustard seeds are crushed.

Question. What do the words seared, bleared and smeared suggest in the poem “God’s Grandeur”?

Answer. Seared in the poem God’s Grandeur” refers to burning of something like body parts for skin that leaves a scar effecting with the sense of sight, taste or touch. It damages a person’s ability to interact with the outside world.

Smearing and blearing carry the sense of dirty smudge drawn across the previously clear surface. Such as eyes or lens of glasses. It also distorts the image we get in the lens.

Taken together all these three words imply that something beautiful has been damaged and the sense of perception has been compromised. These words explain why human beings cannot perceive the God’s Grandeur.

Question : What does the poet say in the first quatrain and in the second ? ( प्रथम र दोश्रो चार लाइनमा कवि के भन्छन् ? )
Answer: In the first four lines the poet praises the magnificence and glory of god. He says that this world is replete ( ओतप्रोत ) with God’s grandeur which bursts out in sudden flame or reveals itself as when the oil crushed from olive seeds slowly oozes out and gathers into a thick pool. He also wonders why men do not heed ( ध्यान दिनु ) God’s rule and orders. In the second quatrian, the poet gives the reason behind man’s ignorance, indifference and heedlessness ( बेध्यान ) at the full-flowing presence of God. He says that it is because human world is infected with materialistic thinking. As a result, life has become monotonous and a dry routine for them. Men have given themselves completely to profit earning activities and defaced ( बिगारेको ) the beauty of nature by their filth ( फोहोर ) and foul labour ( दुर्गन्ध ). They have grown numb ( संवेदनशील ) to the feel of the earth.

Question : Summarize the last six lines in a sentence. ( अन्तिम छ पंक्तिको एक वाक्यमा सारांश लेख्नुहोस्। )
Answer: In spite of all the havoc ( विनाश ) around, beauty and freshness flow eternally from the depths of nature because the Holy Ghost protects the world from generation to generation just as a dove protect it’s young ones with the warmth of its breast and wings.

Question: What is the central idea of the poem. ( कविताको केन्द्रिय विचार के हो ? )
Answer: The central idea of the poem is that the God is glorious. The glory and grandeur of God can be realized sooner and later. God is savior. Although people are carrying out their commercial activities ignoring the command of God and they have destroyed the nature, God will protect us and all the components of nature.

Question.: What is the effect of the repetition of the words ‘have trode’ ? ( ‘have trode’ भन्ने शब्दहरु दोहोरिंदा के प्रभाव परेको छ ? )
Answer: “Have trode’ literally means ‘have walked (the same path). The use intensifies the meaning that the generations have followed the same worn out path of worldly pursuits simply ignoring God’s presence and power in the world. The world capture the mechanical quality of human activities largely due to the heavy accents. The repetition emphasizes the fact that generations to generations men have been accustomed to the same monotonous path of materialism and lost touch with God and the loving force of natural beauty.

 

 

 

Source: https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/gerard-manley-hopkins/god-s-grandeur

https://www.merospark.com/content/31/gods-grandeur/

https://thepronotes.com/gods-grandeur-summary/#:~:text=Question.,preoccupation%20with%20trade%20and%20commerce.

https://krishnarm.com.np/class-11/the-magic-of-words/gods-grandeur/