Cliff Anderson

Atkins
AP Literature
27 January 2011
God’s Grandeur Analysis
The beginning describes how God will come with similes based on new achievements of
man, like foil, static charge, and oil. A few years before this poem was written, Benjamin
Franklin had discovered electricity and a lot of work was done with electric fields. Hopkins
compares God’s grandeur to accomplishments of mankind to give a reference for how marvelous
God is. When combined with “charge,” “grandeur” adds magnificence and a sense of
anticipation to the beginning. Hopkins’ strange simile between flame and the “shining of shook
foil” does not illuminate the vastness of the flame, but instead the brightness and aesthetic of
flame. Foil is a delicate material, gold foil especially so, and Hopkins includes this feat of human
delicacy to make the greater impression that God is sophisticated. Also it has alliteration. Also
around this time, oil was an emerging sign of power, and ooze gives a picture of repulsive
problems coming out of a solid object from somewhere inside. Things oozing are usually natural,
but the addition of the word “crushed,” connotes manipulation and something unnatural.
Hopkins compares God’s inevitability to the power of men and will to dominate, saying that God
will have dominion inevitably because he will “ooze” like oil. Also assonance/alliteration. The
phrase “it gathers to a greatness” also gives a strong impression of god’s omnipotence.
“greatness” made into a noun by “a” makes the sentence flow rhythmically and draws attention
by existing in an uncommon form. “Gathers” implies that God’s presence will come from
everywhere because He is everywhere and can solidify his presence at will. The alliteration
gives the phrase a majestic, slightly ominous tone.
The transition between grand simile and metaphor describing the glory of God to the
body of the paragraph is a rhetorical question. “Why do men then now not reck his rod?” To reck
is an archaic form of “to be concerned with or care about,” and is a form of the word reckon.
Hopkins asserts that men, confident in their ability to manufacture, have forgotten god’s power.
Hopkins builds up to this by comparing God to fantastic sights and newly discovered
fascinations of men in an attempt to make relatable simile to God’s magnificence. The transition
question provides a thinking point after setting up a provocative introduction. It asks how men
could be so arrogant and forget that God has power, and this allows Hopkins to move into men’s
lack of respect later in the poem.
“Generations have trod, have trod, have trod” begins the section detailing man’s
degradation and abuse of the Earth. There is a subtle connection between this line and the
transition because the ending rhyme “-od” is repeated three times. The subject changes, but the
extended rhyme keeps the first line in the back of the mind as Hopkins begins to list things.
There are two sounds in the next line “and all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil,”
and “ear” sound and a “t” sound. The first part follows the a and e sound until “trade,” the end
of the third iamb, where after a slight pause that pattern repeats again. Instead of ending the line
with the hard a sound of the first part, the reader drops the tone on an “oil” sound. This
contrasting sound makes the word toil slightly more noticeable without throwing away the meter
for a more descriptive word.