“The Windhover”

Poem Analysis

The Windhover by Gerard Manley Hopkins is a semi-romantic, religious poem dedicated to Christ. It is a usual Hopkinsian sonnet that
begins with description of nature and ends in meditation about God and Christ and his beauty, greatness and grace. The poem also uses
his usual “sprung rhythm”, Anglo-Saxon diction, alliteration, internal rhyming, new compound metaphors, elliptical grammar and complex
threads of connotation. T. S. Eliot called it ‘the intersection of the timeless with time.’ 

To Christ our Lord

I caught this morning morning’s minion, king-

dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding

Lines 1-2

The poem is dedicated "To Christ our Lord." The reader immediately knows, then, that the poem will explore some aspect of Christianity
and the relationship between humanity and God. (The dedication also informs the target of the phrase "O my chevalier" in line 11, which
could relate to the windhover, to Jesus/God, or, quite plausibly, to both.)

The dedication also signifies Hopkins's acceptance of his poetic gifts, which he had previously denied when he joined the Jesuit priesthood
and burned all of his poetry. With the added dedication, it is clear that Hopkins no longer views his poetry as separate from his religious
calling. And since the poem is now dedicated to Christ, readers can assume Hopkins was dedicating his creative work to God.

A windhover is a bird of prey more commonly known as a kestrel, a type of falcon. As the name "windhover" suggests, the kestrel is a
skilled hunter able to ride air currents with ease and dexterity, waiting for the perfect moment to swoop down and catch its prey. Indeed,
this is ability to seemingly pause mid-flight forms an important focus point for the speaker's sense of wonder (and, in turn, how this
impressive bird speaks to God's presence in the world).

It's worth noting the precise choice of verb the speaker uses to describe the encounter with the kestrel. The speaker doesn't say I saw "this
morning morning's minion" (by which the speaker means the kestrel itself). Instead, the speaker "caught" the kestrel—which, of course,
isn't meant literally. The speaker catches the rare beauty of the bird in its element, a brief moment in time that offers the speaker a
powerful reminder of God's majesty. The word "caught" also relates to the kestrel, which is hovering in the air looking to catch a meal.
This subtly suggests a kind of interconnectedness between different parts of nature (in this case, the speaker and the kestrel) before the
poem has even really gotten started.

The poem is typical of Hopkins's work of this period in its rich and vibrant use of devices like alliteration, consonance, and assonance—all
of which appear in these first two lines. Hopkins deliberately delays specifying the subject of the poem (that is, the bird) until near the end
of line 2, instead offering three distinct ways of describing the bird metaphorically—and each of these is thick with sound patterning.

The kestrel is "this morning morning's minion," the first "morning" relating to the timing of the speaker's experience, and "morning's
minion" suggesting that the bird is the favorite and/or servant of the morning time more generally. Both definitions of "minion" are useful,
but the idea of being a servant is especially appropriate in a poem that discusses the relationship between humanity, nature, and God. The
alliteration, assonance, and consonance (highlighted above) in the phrase suggest perfection and a kind of precision—a quality that the
speaker perceives in the aerial abilities of the bird.

By splitting the word kingdom at the end of the first line the poet introduces enjambment, a natural way of pausing whilst sustaining the
sense; king also implies the regal authority of the bird.

After line 1's caesura (in the form of a comma before "king"), the bird is described as the prince ("dauphin"—not meaning dolphin!) of the
"kingdom of daylight"—with both kingdom and light suggesting a kind of divinity (as in, the kingdom of heaven). The third description of
the bird ends up being clearest:

[king]dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon,

The sheer quantity of /d/ sounds here suggests an abundance of beauty, with the delay of "Falcon" (the family of birds to which the kestrel
belongs) making the reader experience the poem's beautiful sounds in a kind of climactic build-up. The bird is "dapple[d]" because it has a
spotty pattern on its feathers. (Hopkins explores the relationship between God's majesty and "dappled things" in a poem written around
the same time, "Pied Beauty.")

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!
The bird circles in the air, as though controlling his movement in the wind after the manner of a trainer “ringing on the rein” of a wild
horse. The bird pivots round on the tip of his extended wing, which is described as “wimpling”, that is, rippling like a nun’s wimple in
movement. At this moment of conflict with the pressure of the wind, the bird feels ecstasy and sweeps off in the direction of the wind as
though on a swing. This movement of the bird also reminds the poet of a skillful skater, sweeping round smoothly “on a bow-bend”, that is
while cutting a figure of eight on the ice.

 Here the bird, by means of a mixture of metaphors, seems to become a bell, hanging by its wings in mid-air.  ‘Wimpling’ means quick
beating, fluttering or rippling.  Therefore, we have an image of the falcon, bell-like, swinging back and forth in a wide arc (‘on a bow-
bend’), having mastered ‘rebuffed’ the big wind. Hopkins’ imagination is turbo-charged here and the phrase ‘to ring upon the rein of a
wimpling wing’ may also be a metaphor from horse-training, the term being applied in a riding school to a horse circling on the end of a
long rein held by its trainer.  Also, we must remember that ‘to ring’ is also a technical term used in falconry.  At any rate, the idea of the
falcon as a hanging bell, filling the heavens with joyful news (‘In his ecstasy’) is confirmed in that other beautiful sonnet ‘When Kingfishers
Catch Fire’ where he says:

each hung bell’s

Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name

The movement combines “hurl” or strong self-propulsion, with “gliding” or full utilization of the wind’s force. The skill of the bird thus
seems to rebuff the wind, that is, to win a triumph over the wind. This triumph of the mind over matter inwardly stirs the heart of the poet
“in hiding”.

The words “In hiding” may refer to the poet’s timidity or it may refer to the heart’s being hidden with Christ in God and thus leading a
hidden religious life. The poet’s heart is thrilled with admiration for the bird-for the bird’s achievement in triumphing over the inanimate
forces of Nature. The “heart in hiding” may also refer to the fact that the poet watches the bird from some hidden place, or to the fact
that the heart is hidden within the body. Moreover, the words “here buckle” mean that the various qualities mentioned by the poet
combine or fuse together in the falcon. “Here” = in the bird. “Buckle” = combine together. But there is another meaning also of “Here
buckle”. The “heart in hiding” is being urged to make a complete surrender of itself to Christ.

The phrase "My heart in hiding" in the octave strikes something of an off-note. Watching the bird enraptures the speaker, but mention of
"heart in hiding" suggests concealment and discontent. The speaker is not quite watching the bird wholeheartedly. Some unidentified
problem may be holding the speaker back. Notice that although the octave conveys a strong sense of action, the four
words riding, striding, gliding, and hiding display a progressive slowing-down as they figuratively approach the speaker. This device creates
a metaphoric association between the speaker and the falcon, implying that the falcon represents the speaker's emotional state as it
moves more inward and reflective. Yet, the opposite has happened simultaneously since the speaker's heart has been stirred to exaltation
by the falcon. That is, the heart was in hiding until the falcon appeared.

When you read through the poem full end rhymes become crucial, as does the use of enjambment, the running of one line into another,
to maintain the sense.

For example, when we move from the second to third line the emphasis is on the bird's skill - note the caesura (natural break) needed
after rolling level - as it maintains its position before swinging away in a perfect curve later on in lines five and six.

Rung upon the rein is a term used to describe the circle made by a horse when kept at pace on a tight rein, so the bird is able to use the
rippling wing before moving off smoothly, ecstatically, somewhat like a skater rounding a bend.

But we shouldn't be surprised when this fabulous falcon elicits such spiritual energy. Take the routine of the humble plough, even that can
make the furrowed ridges shine and outwardly dull embers suddenly break and reveal this gorgeous golden red as can be seen in the
following stanzas.

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!

The bird then beats back the strong wind which is uplifting for the speaker, in fact, so inspiring is the flight and aerial prowess of the
falcon a transformation takes place. All the qualities of the kestrel in the whole airborne act, buckle, that is, collapse and then re-combine
as one in a spiritual fire : the clean, cruciform profile of the bird when it breaks from a hover, is symbolic of [Link] revelatory scene is
both beautifully exquisite and thrilling - this is a different dimension, connected to the world of flesh and bone and earth yet transcending
reality. The speaker addresses the bird (Christ) as chevalier, a french word meaning knight or champion. The use of the French word for a
knight and champion calls to mind the medieval concept of a chivalrous warrior combining romance and danger. Moreover, if the bird is
the speaker's champion, it is also his representative. After all, the medieval knight fought for his liege. Thus, the kestrel's physical flight is
mirrored in the earthbound speaker's spiritual movement as his hidden "heart" stirs and soars in spiritual ecstasy. His faith has been
renewed.

The bird is characterised by its beauty, its strength, its valour, pride, and feathers. In that one bird, all of these things have come
together. Yet, the fire that comes from God is a billion times more beautiful and dangerous. The poet recognises
the multiplicity of features that a single bird can hold, and knows that God is much greater and much stronger. He refers to God as
his knight, that is, the one who supports him and saves him.
The poet, through the above lines, sums up the qualities of the falcon-brute, beauty, valour, “act”, pride, plume. All these qualities
combine together in the falcon. The poet tells his heart to surrender itself completely to Christ. Through such a self-surrender the poet
would see splendour in the falcon which is a billion times lovelier than is visible at a superficial view. The spiritual fire which the poet
would behold is a billion times lovelier than the “brute beauty” of the falcon, and yet “more dangerous” also as it would make the poet a
more devoted servant of Christ—because service has its hazards as well as rewards.

The speaker compares the bird with Christ, “my chevalier”, who is a billion times lovelier, more brute (wild) and dangerous (consuming)
in his beauty. The fire or brilliance of Christ is dazzling this bird is no wonder. “No wonder”, says the poet about the bird because the real
wonder of the world is another supreme gift of God, his son, the Christ.

The word ‘Buckle’ is pivotal in the poem.  This word has been the subject of discussion and debate for many years.  Some believe that the
word means ‘Challenge!’ or ‘Tackle!’ or ‘Come to grips with!’ adversity; others believe that it means ‘Collapse’ or ‘Crumple’ before the
assault of evil.  There is even a third interpretation which proposes that it means to clasp, fasten together into a single unity all the skills
and aspirations.

What strikes from the outset is the amount of alliteration and assonance throughout - the poet is showing off somewhat, which could be
a reflection of the action of the falcon, a master of the air.

The poet is also reinforcing the idea of wonder, for here is a predatory bird manipulating the wind in a light that seems to set it on fire.
Could it be that the alliteration suspends time as the reader catches breath to finish the line?

Note however that, within the many lines that suspend then run and hold on by a thread, the end rhymes keep everything in order, they
stop the whole bursting out or breaking: they act as a skin, keeping the organic contents tight.

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.

There is nothing surprising in all this, the poet says and goes on to give us two examples from common experience:

There mere plodding of ploughman as he pushes his plough down the “sillion” or furrow produces a brightness on his ploughshare. In the
same way, fidelity in religious life (just as Christ compared the religious life to taking up the plough) produces brightness in the soul.  His
steps on the soil make a semblance (shape) of a wound (gash) when the blood-red (vermilion) and golden light of the sun is cast on it. The
warm colours suggest crops as well as Christ's redemptive blood. The flight of the bird reminds the speaker of his Christ’s crucifixion; his
blood falls on us for redemption: his suffering (gall) is also another thing to remember. Though the image is beautiful, it carries a haunting
subtext. In the New Testament's Gospel of Matthew, the dying Jesus is offered a mixture of wine and gall as he hangs on the cross. In this
case the word gall denotes a bitter, possibly poisonous liquid derived from a plant. Furthermore, in Welsh, which Hopkins had learned
while living in Wales, the related noun galar means "mourning" or "grief." What's more, vermillion is a brilliant scarlet like blood. It may
seem like a reach to suggest Hopkins is referring to Christ's crucifixion here, but there's no way to avoid that possibility.

The bird, in reality, is nothing so special. Yet, even the most mundane, menial of tasks can bring forth something amazing. “shéer plód
makes plough down sillion Shine” means that even the most boring work, of ploughing a field, gives the result of shiny soil. There is
nothing in this world that is truly boring, or dull, as can be seen by the example of the embers. Even the coals, which seem grey and ugly,
break open to reveal a gorgeous red-gold heart.

The paradox of “sheer plod makes plough down sillion/shine is brightly illuminated in the poem. “That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire”.
Contemplating his “joyless days, dejection”, “flesh fade, and mortal trash”, he reflects that: “This Jack, Joke, poor potsherd, patch,
matchwood, immortal diamond is immortal diamond.”

This “Jack, joke” plodding behind the plough makes the trash and mud of earth shine like a diamond, “Waiting him out of it”. A
diamond flashing from the silicates of the soil is also, once again, the mirror of Christ in the hidden and humble heart of mortal
clay.

Another aspect of this analogy of the plough grinding through the gritty soil is seen in the last line of Splet from Sybil’s Leaves:

Where, selfwrung, sefstrung, sheathe-and-shelterless, thoughts agains thoughts in groans grind.

This aspect of the plough and the soil is the more obviously dramatic one-immortal beauty won from the harshest dullest toil,
suffering, and discipline.

The embers of a fire may appear to be dying; they may look bleak in their faded blue colour; but it is precisely then that these embers fall
and bruise themselves, so that they break open and reveal a hidden fire of “gold vermilion”. The poet’s soul, too, is “blue-bleak” or
seemingly lifeless. But through suffering and mortification for the sake of Christ, the poet would experience a spiritual glory

What is true of the earth is true of its cycles as well. The poem begins in the morning but is written at night, while Hopkins contemplates
the embers in his fire and sees how they go from the compacted alliteration of the “blue-bleak” into the unexpected beauty of the “gold-
vermilion.” The word gold picks up from gall by way of gash, the way the embers break open, which itself rhymes on fall in one of
Hopkins’s linked pairs. The rhymed linkage in “Fall, gall” picks up from the alliterative linkage of “blue-bleak.” The fall is the result of
buckling: The coals cannot sustain themselves. It also represents the Fall of humanity, one of the central concerns of Hopkins’s ministry as
a Roman Catholic priest. But for Hopkins the buckling that leads to a fall also leads to the glory of the intense beauty, of which the fall
turns out to be another version. It is Christ whom Hopkins addresses in the end with the interjection “ah my dear” (borrowed from George
Herbert’s great 17th-century poem “Love” [III]). He is dear because he is there, and we know he is there because the beauty linked
everywhere in the world is the sign of his presence. He is present, then, even in the fall, making it beautiful and thereby redeeming it with
the incessant intensity of his presence.

Other original images include that of ‘blue-bleak embers’ representing self-sacrifice and the ‘plough down sillion’ that evokes the
hardship and perhaps tedium of daily labour.  In ‘The Windhover’, therefore, Hopkins employs images of flight, of majesty, of sacrifice and
of glory ranging from a ‘dauphin’ to a ‘skate’s heel’, from a ‘fire’ to ‘blue-bleak embers.  Such remarkable and wide-ranging imagery
reflects the vivid and precise response of the poet’s imagination to the sight of the falcon at dawn.  More importantly, perhaps, the
imagery reveals that the moment created a response of deep spiritual insight.  There is nothing particularly novel in taking a falcon as
subject matter.  However, what is original is the way Hopkins engages with the falcon, observes it and concentrates on it in a deeper way
and articulates what it revealed to him through an interesting range of original imagery.  The priest-poet is praying!

Thematic Separation in the Poem.

The first eight lines represent the speaker being inspired by the flight of the falcon and the next six lines represent the spiritual influence
of Christ, transformed out of the 'fire that breaks.'

Hopkins’s Contribution to the verse form.

Hopkins developed a language of his own to help describe the inner rhythmic world of the poem he had created.

He used the word inscape to denote the unique characteristics of a poem, its essence, and the word instress which conveys the
experience a person has of the inscape.

He also created the term sprung rhythm to help make the rhythms of his verse 'brighter, livelier, more lustrous'.

This metrical system is based on abrupt use of strong stresses followed by unstressed, the energy of the stresses springing through the
alliterative syllables that make up the rest of the line.

Inscape and Instress in “The Windhover”

An important element in his work is Hopkins's own concept of ‘inscape’ which was derived, in part, from the medieval theologian Duns
Scotus. The exact detail of ‘inscape ‘is uncertain and probably known to Hopkins alone but it has to do with the individual essence and
uniqueness of every physical thing. This is communicated from an object by its ‘instress’ and ensures the transmission of the item's
importance in the wider creation. His poems would then try to present this ‘inscape’ so that a poem like ―The Windhover aims to depict
not the bird in general but it becomes a metaphor for Christ.

The terms inscape and instress are coined by Hopkins. There is no single definition or explanation of these terms as the journals which he
wrote were never meant for publication. The prefix ‘-in’ emphasizes the inner core of distinctiveness, i.e., the self ‘in all things. The word
‘scape’ as in ‘landscape’ suggests the vastness or a total view. Thus, while comprehending a thing in its totality, Hopkins perceived its
inner distinctiveness. It is a mode of perception, a moment of concentrated awareness which helped him to feel the essence of being
embedded in other creatures or objects. This is what Duns Scotus, the English theologian of the thirteenth century called ‘haeccitas’ or
‘thisness’ in a thing.

The word ‘instress‘ is used to mean the energy that is inherent in and sustains all things. It is also the force of stress that is waiting to
discharge itself into the heart of the devotee. It is a moment of spiritual insight after the heightened mood of inscape. It can also come
suddenly like a shower of blessing. ―The Windhover begins with the inscape of the bird in its flight and as admiration mounts to
adoration, the bird becomes a metaphor for Christ. That is the moment of instress.

“The Windhover” as a religious poem

The poem is actually not to the bird at all; it is “To Christ our Lord” i.e., a religious poem. The octave is certainly about the bird, trying to
define its particular ‘inscape’ or identity, and the way it impacts him, its ‘instress’. But in the sestet, Hopkins shifts his ground, taking his
eye off the bird and addressing Christ directly. The sestet in fact, unusually, divides into two clear tercets:

one thinking of the beauty of Christ as opposed to the beauty of the bird;

the other, seeing in what way Christ‘s beauty is beautiful, and, more to the point, how an apparently ordinary religious life could share in
that beauty.

This is a challenge for us, too, as modern readers, since we talk easily enough about beautiful women or landscapes, but not about beauty
in ordinary, unglamorous things. We have to remember that the Victorians, as heirs to the Romantics, had a much more fully worked out
aesthetic, which they were not afraid to apply to religion, or even to a mathematical proof.

In the octave, Hopkins has been watching a falcon soaring and swooping in the morning air, marvelling at the bird ‘s skill and grace. The
windy conditions do not seem to bother the bird, who seems in total control of all his ecstatic movements. Hopkin’s heart in hiding‘ is
deeply moved by the sight, yet this reaction distresses him.
In the sestet he seems to want to regain his composure, here buckle. He can only do this by turning to Christ and declaring:

 that the fire that breaks from the then is both more lovely and more challenging

 such fire is hidden, but breaks out from the ordinary surface appearance of things to reveal itself

 the implication is that the bird ‘s beauty is merely physical, and Hopkin’s response to it merely physical

 the deeper beauty is spiritual, often hidden underneath a dull physical appearance.

There is the implication, however, in ‘fall’ and ‘gash’, that he is thinking more specifically about Christ’s crucifixion, where his self-sacrifice
must be defined as the ultimate spiritual beauty:

 this self-sacrificing love then becomes the mark of all human spiritual beauty

Creation signifies its creator.

The problem lies in the word Buckle which has several quite different meanings:

 crumple, or give in or buckle under pressure. The moment of instress is often described as the moment when the pressure of grace
discharges a spiritual energy into the devotee. Therefore, it could mean that the two levels of metaphor are fused and the bird becomes
Christ.

 the above interpretation assumes the word means ‘buckle down, or under’, ‘get control of’

 but ‘buckle’ can also mean to fasten together, as with a belt.

If this is so, then the interpretation has more to do with admitting the way strength, beauty and skill all come together in a unique inscape.
The bird, as a created being, then becomes a sign of its creator.

In Christian theology, Christ was present at creation, and therefore could be seen as its creator, or the way through which creation came
(God... by his Son...through whom he made the universe. Hebrews 1:2, New International Version of Bible). Hopkins then has to think of
how he, as priest, can live out his uniqueness, which may well be by ‘sheer plod’ rather than the soaring arcs of the bird.

“The Windhover” Themes

Appearances

"The Windhover" is about the speaker's admiration for a beautiful bird, true. But it also touches on some bigger philosophical questions—
like how even boring, everyday objects can appear beautiful and amazing if only we know how to look at them in the right way. This poem
is partly meant to show us how to open our eyes to see the beauty hidden in everyday things.

The Majesty of God and Nature

“The Windhover” is a celebration—even, perhaps, a kind of joyous prayer—that marvels at the wonders of the natural world and, in turn,
at the majesty of God’s creation. The poem strives to show that these two aspects of the world—nature and God—are not really separate:
the beauty of nature is both evidence of and a way of experiencing God’s sublime divinity.

The poem uses one small part of the nature—a falcon (specifically a kestrel)—to explore this relationship, with “the achieve of [and] the
mastery” of the bird representing one small but undeniable proof of God’s power. The first chunk of the poem brings nature to life on the
page, while the latter half then develops the way that natural beauty relates to God.

In the octet (the poem's first eight lines) the poem’s speaker is almost overcome by the beauty of the falcon. The poem’s language is
fittingly full of its own dazzling beauty here (through poetic techniques like alliteration), as the speaker tries breathlessly to capture the
experience of the falcon. Indeed, the emotional impact of this encounter is clear from the start: “I caught this morning morning’s minion,”
the speaker says. If part of the speaker’s wonder at the falcon is its sheer and beautiful physical efficiency, the notion of “catching” it in
flight shows that this is a rare—and profound—experience.

The speaker then marvels at different features of the falcon, each one of them majestic in its own way. The falcon’s “dapple[d]” feathers,
its ability to smoothly hover in the strong air currents, the way it swiftly turns and dives (presumably to catch prey)—all of these affect the
speaker profoundly. This emotional reaction comes about because the speaker sees in the falcon—in its incredible falcon-ness (that is, the
way it perfectly inhabits being a falcon)—as proof of God’s existence, beauty, and power.

In other words, the falcon doesn’t just exist for the sake of it—it exists to express God’s will. The falcon’s incredible aerial ability and
seemingly perfect (divine) design stands in for God’s masterful achievement in creating the world and all the beauty contained within it.

With the first part of the poem having proved the beauty of the falcon, the sestet (the final six lines of the sonnet) places the bird in a
wider and arguably more mysterious context. The speaker admires the falcon’s “brute beauty and valour and act” (its fearlessness and
physical abilities), but importantly sees these as proof of a type of metaphorical “fire” that also "breaks" from Christ, to whom the poem is
dedicated. This fire is God’s creation. Think about it as a kind of molten lava flowing underneath the surface of all (seemingly individual)
things—and making them part of one perfect whole. The fire, according to the speaker, is the source of all existence and is stunningly
beautiful.

And it’s here the speaker makes the poem’s final but crucial point. This “fire” isn’t just perceptible in things that are obviously beautiful
and impressive (like the bird, or, perhaps, a spectacular view); the fire of creation burns brightly within all things. Like embers fallen from a
fire, even unremarkable surroundings can contain intense, “gold-vermillion” beauty. As an example, the speaker mentions the mundane
and repetitive task of plowing the soil, which brings the reward of food and sustenance. A secondary, less literal meaning of this "sheer
plod" could be the way that human beings serve God by staying true to their spiritual development. That is, even if the rewards of doing so
don’t seem immediately obvious, or if the spiritual path seems fraught with difficulty, sheer effort forms an important part of the
expression of God’s creation. Like the falcon’s full-hearted expression of falcon-ness, humans serve God through seeking him.

Symbols and Imageries

The Windhover

The first nine lines of this poem focus intently on the windhover, a type of bird better known as a kestrel (a kind of falcon). The speaker is
deeply moved by the sight of the bird as it hovers and then swoops down in a graceful arc towards the ground. But the speaker isn't
merely a passionate birdwatcher! It's because of the symbolic qualities of the bird that the speaker's heart feels "stirred."

Like a virtuoso violinist, the windhover is a master of refinement, grace, and precision. These qualities don't come from the bird itself, but
from its master, God—who, of course, is also the speaker's master. The skill and dexterity with which the bird rides the wind is a
representation and expression of God's majesty, and God's skill and dexterity in creating the world. However, it's worth noting that the
poem widens its perspective towards the end by arguing that this divine majesty is perceptible in all the world—even those parts of it (and
life) that seem boring, difficult, and painful. In that sense, then, the kestrel doesn't just represent its own majesty—it is one small aspect of
nature that symbolizes the entirety of God's creation.

Chivalric sport ( symbolic)

The main image of the octave is the kestrel as knight. As hawking and falconry are aristocratic, medieval sports, it is appropriate for
Hopkins to use both images and diction that reflect this. Since medieval aristocratic life was basically conducted in French, so are the terms
used:

 ‘minion’ meaning ‘darling’ rather than ‘servant’ in medieval French.

 ‘dauphin’, the heir apparent to the French throne.

 ‘wimpling’ from ‘wimple’ a medieval head covering, still worn by nuns.

 ‘rung and rein’ both suggest falconry and releasing the bird whilst riding.

So, the bird appears noble, proud, as well as totally skilful.

In the sestet, Christ is addressed as knight, using the same medieval terminology as in the octave. Whilst seeing Christ as a knight is not
exactly biblical, many medieval poems did see Christ in this way (e.g., an Old English poem ―The Dream of the Rood). More significantly,
Jesuit spirituality saw Christ as the supreme chevalier, whilst Jesuit priests were seen as Christ’s soldiers.

Physical freedom (Image)

Hopkins introduces a second image in the octave: that of skating, another sport that demands skill and grace and strength in equal
measure. Here he is thinking of the sweeping movements of the bird through the air. Implicit in both images is the idea of physical
freedom, of being without borders, and also of display. The bird is unselfconsciously showing off his skill.
Soil

In line 12, the poem takes an interesting turn. Having spent most of its lines talking up the awe-inspiring sight of the bird, the speaker now
states that really, after all, the bird isn't that remarkable. That's not because it isn't a majestic expression of God's will, but because it is
no exception in being so: all the world expresses the same thing. Here, the speaker gives the example of how freshly upturned soil—
referred to here as "sillion"—sparkles and glimmers in the sunshine. The soil, then, becomes symbolic of the idea that the fire of God's
creation is present in everything, just below the surface.

The act of plowing a field is, of course, backbreaking hard work. This moment can also be interpreted as a symbolic affirmation of the
importance of spiritual work, which can seem similarly laborious, repetitive, and unending. Hopkins's point seems to wish to remind the
reader that all such work functions as a way of praising God and acknowledging the inherent wonder and beauty of the entirety of the
world in all its forms.

Fire

Fire in the poem essentially represents the glory and majesty of God. This is first clear in lines 10-11, which describes the "fire that breaks
from thee"—Christ, to whom the poem is addressed—as far lovelier and more dangerous than even that of the magnificent windhover.

Fire reappears in the final two lines of the poem in the form of embers. Embers are pieces of wood or coal left after the main fire has
burned out (though sometimes these pieces fall out of the fire while it is burning). They can be quite dangerous as it's not always
immediately obvious that beneath their cool-looking surface they are still aglow with fierce heat and light. The poem uses embers as a
second example of what has already been stated metaphorically by the previous section of line 12 and 13: that below the surface of
appearances lies the intensely beautiful fire of God's creation. The earthly world is aglow with God's majesty, more obvious in some
aspects of the world than others (to the speaker, the kestrel is perhaps a more obvious example). Finally, it's worth noting that the verb
"gash" means to be cut open and is close in sound to "gush." This could be a gesture towards the crucifixion of Christ (to whom the poem
is dedicated), whose own "gashes" (wounds) represent the salvation of humankind.

The sestet lacks such cohesive images. There is the sudden emergence of fire;

‘the fire that breaks from’…... Might suggest volcanic activity

however, the last two lines suggest more an apparently dying fire, which when stirred, breaks out into flame again, though that would
not seem very ‘dangerous’.

The dangerous fire is either:

 God’s glory, which is too fierce for man to look on; the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory‘ (2
Corinthians 3:7 New International Version of Bible), a glory he had from contact with God on Mount Sinai.

When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant and they were afraid to come near him. (Exodus 34:30 New
International Version of Bible)

Literary Devices

"The Windhover" is packed with alliteration. As with the poem's use of assonance and consonance, alliteration serves one main purpose
overall: to make the poem sound beautiful. This beauty, in turn, is a way for the poem to do justice to both the magnificent sight of the
windhover soaring through the sky and, even more importantly, to the majesty of God's creation. Furthermore, the vibrant and frequent
use of alliteration relates to the way that speaker projects a state of "ecstasy" onto the kestrel. This ecstasy is a kind of religious fervor, felt
and perceived by the speaker (rather than the bird). Alliteration thus heightens the sense that this poem is a kind of prayer directly
praising God.

The alliteration that begins the poem is immediately arresting and comes in a group of three: "morning morning's minion,"
"daylight's dauphin," and "dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon." All three examples sound bright and clear, reflecting the clarity of the speaker's
experience—that is, the awe felt by the speaker in observing the bird, and the instinctive connection made by the speaker between nature
and God.
From "riding" in line 2 to "wimpling wing" at the end of line 4, the alliteration serves more to evoke the way that the kestrel alternately
hovers and dives. As with the poem's meter and rhyme, alliteration comes and goes with a kind of rhythm that creates a sense of stasis
and motion—exactly the rhythm that the bird observes in the air. In lines 5 to 6, the /s/ alliteration (sibilance) gives the poem a smooth,
gliding quality that relates to the comparison of the bird's flight to the heel of an ice skater:

... then off, off forth on swing,

As a skate's heel sweeps smooth

The next main examples fall in lines 9-11:

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!

As with all the other instances in the poem, the alliteration here still works to maintain the presence of beauty and deliberate design. But
here it's also used to evoke a sense of power through hard /b/ and /p/ sounds (highlighted above). These have a kind of toughness that
matches with the description of the kestrel's beauty as "brute." This /b/ sound then links with the speaker's statement that Christ is even
more "lovelier" and "dangerous" (meaning powerful)—a "billion times" more.

In line 12, "plod" chimes with "plough" to paint a picture of backbreaking farm labor, the closeness of the sounds suggesting
repetitiveness. The three hard /g/ sounds in the final line return to the brightness of the opening, suggesting the intensity of the fire that
burns inside all of God's creation ("gall," "gash," and "gold-vermilion"). Ending the poem with a color means that this bright sound also
leaves the reader with a lasting impression of reddish-gold.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Windhover”

Sprung Rhythm

Sprung Rhythm, as used in this poem, is measured by feet of from one to four syllables, regularly, and for particular effects any number of
weak or slack syllables may be used. It has one stress, which falls on the only syllable, if there is only one, if there are more, then scanning
as above, on the first, and so gives rise to four sorts of feet, a monosyllable and the so-called accentual Trochee, Dactyl, and the First
Paeon.

What is remarkable is the use of the Sprung Rhythm to try to recreate the bird‘s flight, with its sweeps, stops and dives. Hopkins‘ theory
allows him to do things to the traditional iambic pentameter, the typical sonnet line form:

 He can add extra stresses to it, forming extra feet. Sometimes he calls these ‗outriders‘, i.e. outside the normal scansion; sometimes
they are merely extra stressed monosyllables, or spondees

 He can add extra unstressed syllables, so technically keeping the line to five stressed syllables

 He also sets up counterpointing in various ways, so the musical possibilities open to him are numerous, and in this sonnet, they really
work for him.

Sprung Rhythm is the most natural of things. He tabulates the reasons: (1) it is the rhythm of common speech and of written prose, when
rhythm is perceived in them. (2) It is the rhythm of all but the most monotonously regular music, so that in the wordsof choruses and
refrains and in songs written closely to music it arises. (3) It is found in nursery rhymes, weather saws, and so on; because, however these
may have been once made in running rhythm, the terminations having dropped off by the change of language, the stresses come together
and so the rhythm is sprung. (4) It arises in common verse when reversed or counterpointed, for the same reason. (Hopkin1918, 5-6).

Form

"The Windhover" is a Petrarchan sonnet. Its 14 lines can thus be divided into two main sections: the octet (the first eight lines) and
the sestet (the final six).

Hopkins also divides the sestet into two equal halves (three-line stanzas known as tercets). Though sonnets differ widely, the form can be
thought of generally as a kind of question and answer—or a set-up followed by a commentary. Here, the octet is mainly concerned with
capturing the beauty of the windhover in order to give the reader a sense of its aerial skill. At the same time, the octet develops the
speaker's awe and wonder. This section ends by noting "the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!"—which is the speaker's way of
expressing admiration for the bird (and, by extension, God).

The sestet, starting at line 9, then marks an important shift in the poem because the speaker's focus becomes more abstract. The poem
widens its scope to consider the way in which the bird's beauty and skill is an expression of the majesty of God—a majesty that, the poem
argues, is present in all things. The tone in lines 9-11 remains ecstatic and joyous, as though the speaker is in a kind of rapture—and feels
the overwhelming desire to sing a hymn of praise to God's creation. These lines are addressed to God/Christ.

The last three lines of the poem have a calmer tone, which makes sense in light of the progression of the sonnet's argument. The speaker
says that it's "no wonder" that something as precise, graceful, and powerful as the windhover exists—because these qualities are present
in all of God's work. Having soared to great rhetorical heights, the sonnet becomes literally more down to earth, making reference to soil
and ashes, and expressing admiration for the way that the fire of God's creation burns within everything that's in the world.
Meter

Hopkins's poetry is known for its emphasis on accentual meter and its high degree of flexibility when it comes to unstressed syllables.
Hopkins called this sprung rhythm, which in essence means that the lines generally have a mostly regular amount of accents—
or stressed syllables—but a varied number of unstressed syllables. So while Hopkins's contemporaries might stick to stricter meters,
like iambic pentameter (five feet of unstressed-stressed syllables), Hopkins's poetry reads more freely. It is meant to feel like natural
speech, to avoid the monotony of something like iambic pentameter while still retaining a sense of control.

The poetic feet of sprung rhythm usually begin with a stress, followed by another one to three unstressed beats. There is no need to get
too caught up in the technical details however, and, indeed, Hopkins's only loosely defined the concept. The most important thing to focus
on is where the stresses fall, and how the variation in foot length (how many syllables are in each poetic unit) contributes to the poem's
overall tone.

The first line, for example, reads like pure iambic pentameter:

I caught | this morn- | ing morn- | ing's min- | ion, king-

The poem, then, starts with a steady rhythm that is fairly typical of sonnets at the time. But then look at how this regularity is turned on its
head in the very next line:

dom of | daylight's | dauphin, | dapple- | dawn-drawn | Falcon, | in his | riding

This helps the language sound exciting and daring, evoking the speaker's ecstatic feelings towards the sight of the windhover. Other than
the first line, no others in the poem strictly conform to iambic pentameter—which is part of what makes Hopkins's poetry so original (and
perhaps contributes to the fact it wasn't until well after his death that people started to really engage with his work!).

Hopkins was certainly very attentive to the metrical effects of his poems, to the extent that he sometimes marked particular syllables to
ensure that they were stressed by the reader. "Shéer plód" in line 12 is meant to be read as two stressed syllables, conjuring a sense of
what's being described: the hard, back-breaking work of plowing soil.

Rhyme Scheme

"The Windhover" uses rhyme throughout. Unusually, the entire octet (the sonnet's first eight lines) shares the same rhyme sound—
though with one important variation. All eight lines end in the /ing/ sound, but sometimes this is stressed and sometimes it is not; think
"wing" vs. "riding." When the final /ing/ is not stressed, the prior syllable rhymes too; look at "riding" and "striding." The octet's scheme,
then, might be thought of as:

AaaAAaaA

The capital letters mark stressed syllables and the lowercase unstressed. It could also be thought of as ABBAABBA; we like using lowercase
and uppercase to illustrate the interesting relationship between these sounds. The most important thing to notice about the rhymes in the
octet is the way that most of them refer to action and movement: "riding," "striding," "wing," "swing," and "gliding." This helps build the
picture of the kestrel as a master of aerial skill, manipulating the wind to hover and dive at will.

The rhymes in the sestet follow a pattern of:

CDCDCD

The C rhymes—"here," "chevalier," and "dear"—all relate to the religious aspect of the poem, while the D rhymes suggest beauty and
abundance: "billion," "sillion" (shiny soil), and "gold-vermilion."

Word clusters and repetition

Hopkins uses word clusters, as in The Starlight Night:

 dapple-dawn-drawn, rolling level underneath, him steady air -which works more like a German multiword, blue-bleak, gold-vermilion

He also uses repetitions:

 off, off/morning morning‘s‘ is perhaps the most eye-catching and dramatic.

Other verbal features of the poem are:

The ‗I caught‘ of the first line really comes to mean: I was caught by / There are also word-breaks, where a word appears strung over the
end of a line into the next, an internal enjambement (the technique used in blank verse and other verse forms in which the sense of a line
runs on without a pause to the next one; this often gives a sense of greater fluency to the lines) as in ‗king-/dom‘.  Lastly we need to note
the spelling of ‗AND‘, which has to mean ‘and yet’ or ‘what is more’.

“The Windhover” Speaker

The poem's opening dedication to Christ is important: it marks out the speaker as a Christian, and tells the reader that the sight of the
windhover has religious significance. There is a sense of intimacy in the poem as well—in the speaker's rare encounter with the bird, and
in the speaker's desire to directly address God about that experience. The poem thus becomes a kind of prayer, the speaker offering a
song of praise to God's creation, and directly addressing Christ as "my chevalier" ("my knight").

The speaker of "The Windhover" is often interpreted as being Hopkins himself, though this isn't made explicit in the poem. What is clear is
that the speaker is in awe of the windhover, and sees in the bird a kind of perfection that stands in for the craftsmanship of God in the
creation of the world. The first eight lines (the poem's octet) capture that sense of wonder specific to the windhover, while the final six
lines (the seset) allow the speaker to place this feeling in a wider religious context.

“The Windhover” Setting

 The dedication at the start of "The Windhover"—"To Christ our Lord"—marks the poem out as a kind of prayer. This means that
in one sense the setting of the poem is the speaker's mind, and the space between the speaker and God.

Looking at the poem on a more specific level, there's a clear distinction between the octet and sestet in terms of setting. The octet is
almost exclusively concerned with the windhover itself, while the sestet widens out to place the speaker's experience in a wider religious
context. The octet, then, is set high in the skies, full of movements and stops in a way that mimics the bird's ability to hover and swoop.
The poem catches the speaker's breathless excitement in witnessing the windhover's incredible skill.

The second half of the poem is more abstract, comparing the "fire" within the kestrel to the fire of God (which runs through all creation—
even, in the speaker's example, the soil). Here, the setting widens to discuss the entire world (through specific examples), with the
reference to backbreaking farm work alluding to the difficult task of being a good Christian and spiritual servant of God. Both soil and
ashes here stand in for the entirety of creation.

Literary and Historical Context of “The Windhover”

Literary Context

"The Windhover" is one of Gerard Manley Hopkins's most celebrated poems. Though the poem was written in 1877, it was only published
posthumously in 1918 in Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hopkins, a Jesuit priest, in fact burned his poems during his lifetime, feeling
that they were against the principles of his Catholic religion; his friend and fellow poet Robert Bridges kept copies and ensured they were
published after Hopkins's death.

Hopkins counts as a Victorian poet simply by virtue of writing during the Victorian era, but his work was unique for its time. Indeed,
Hopkin's poetry wasn't entirely embraced at first, and looking at "The Windhover," it's perhaps easy to see why. His gymnastic use of
grammar, decadent alliteration, and use of sprung rhythm were all strikingly original literary techniques. For Hopkins's part, he felt that
"The Windhover" was the finest poem he ever wrote.

Hopkins loved language, and it's worth noting that in poems like "The Windhover" and "Pied Beauty," he was reaching for a
language worthy of the beauty of God's creation, "the fire that breaks" from all things. His poetry shares themes with that of Christina
Rossetti, who also frequently wrote devotional (religious) poetry and whose work Hopkins admired. An interesting poem of the era
to contrast with Hopkins's is Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach," which laments humankind's loss of faith in God—while Hopkins's poem
seems to affirm this faith.

Hopkins was also deeply influenced by the poetry of John Keats, who wrote beautifully about nature in poems like "Ode to Autumn" and
"Ode to a Nightingale." Finally, it's worth acknowledging that, though he was unknown during his own era, Hopkins's poetry became
greatly influential during the 20th century, with poets like T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, and Dylan Thomas all acknowledging Hopkins's effect on
their work.

Historical Context

"The Windhover" is a religious poem, specifically offering praise to "Christ our Lord." Hopkins became a Roman Catholic while studying at
Oxford University and, indeed, gave up poetry for a while, giving up "all beauty" until he felt he had God's approval.

Catholicism grew in popularity during the Victorian period (which refers to the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901), as did other
denominations outside the Church of England. By the time Hopkins converted in 1866, Roman Catholics, though still a religious minority,
had largely the same rights as other Christians. Nevertheless, the decision estranged Hopkins from family members—who were devout
Anglicans, or members of the Church of England.

"The Windhover" intersects with an important question in religion: the extent to which God is present in the world and, in turn, knowable
by man. This poem, as with Hopkins's others written during the same era, views the world as a manifestation of God—with the beauty of
the world as an expression of God's own beauty, power, and craftsmanship.

Hopkins was also writing during the era of Romanticism, which saw an embrace of the natural world in response to the industrialization
and urbanization of society. Such an appreciation for the beauty and wonder of nature is clearly present in this poem.

(g3-first link)