Pied beauty has a powerful effect on me before and after the close reading. Surreal, lyrical and almost mystical imagery coupled with cascading sound and a magical sense comes together energetically to create an intense, exhilarating and insightful depiction of nature.
This powerful imagery is created by neologisms such as “couple-colour” , “rose-moles” and “brinded”. The word “couple-colour” has a powerful descriptive effect, with its meaning of multiple colours all working cohesively together to create a beautiful image. The alliteration of the “c” sound which rolls easily and fluidly off the tongue helps intensify the image of these magnificent colours of the sky blending together seamlessly and perfectly. The simile comparing the colour of the sky to a “brinded cow” is absolutely awesome because we have no idea what it really means, but can still understand its beauty and subtly effortlessly as if we almost instinctively know what the word “brinded” means. Here a parallel is drawn between nature and a word like “brinded”. Even though we cannot fully understand either of them, we can still appreciate them and feel them so powerfully. “Rose-moles” is another effective example of this, the word combination is absolutely alien yet it sounds so familiar and inspires such a vivid image in my head. I can see the colour of rose, reflected on a rippling surface of water almost as if it’s the shadow cast by a fair maidens beauty mole. This surreal and almost irrational imagery is created by the tool of coupling words together in unfamiliar combinations so as to cast aside the stereotypes, generalizations and walls in our minds, which influence and hamper our perception of the world around us. The word “stipple” as well, describes a fascinating yet unfamiliar motion. This meaning is created by its similarity to the word ripple and the same rolling and waving “l” sound. At the same time the word means nothing to me so I am free to imagine any illogical, surreal and irrational motion I wish to, without confining my ideas to ponds, stones and ripples.
The surreal and energetic use of language is seen most effectively in lines such as “fresh fire-coal, chestnut falls, finches wings,” where the hectic, organic and bubbling rhythm along with the flashing images and beautiful sound helps outline the inscape of nature. In this line sprung rhythm is used to perfection as the stress and unstressed pattern seems to bounce out at me, shaking me out of my complacency of viewing the natural world with such a lazy uninterested eye. Vibrant colours blaze across my eyes as I visualise the reds, greys and blacks of “fresh fire-coal” {here the repeated “f” sound emphasizes this fresh, burning feeling}. These colours are given a sense of motion as they are related to the falling of a chestnut and how the air around its flows and ripples like the delicate motion of finch’s wings. All these descriptive metaphors come together to create a breathtakingly surreal and almost magical image.
Powerful ideas and thoughts are also communicated in this poem, such as the idea that man is an intrusion into the natural world, plotting and piecing it into order and submission. The line “all trades, their gear and tackle and trim” has a very mechanized rhythm disturbing the beautiful flow of the poem in clouds of automation and industrialization. This is a comment on how man has an intrusive effect on nature.
On a lighter note the poem also contains a hidden duality which is reflected in Hopkins play of words such as “ swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim” where oxymorons are clumped together forcing you to think of both sides of nature at once. This induced accelerated thought process helps you blast away your commonly held assumptions and see the natural world for what it really is. The architectonics of these lines are such that losing a single word or sound could ruin the whole poem as they rhythm and imagery winds it together into a single beautiful, cohesive unit.
A mix of the feminine and masculine sides of nature is also brought in as Hopkins includes both sides of a whole. Feminine lines such as, “rose – moles all in a stipple upon trout that swim” are balanced by more masculine lines such as, “ landscape plotted and pieced”. The difference can be seen in the rhythm and sound of the lines. The later being harder and stronger while the former softer and more flowing. This helps to illustrate that everything in nature is in a sort of balance {ying and yang if you will} and it takes many parts to make a whole
Hopkins also incorporates an interesting questioning paradox into his poem, in the form of “he fathers-forth whose beauty is past change”. This line brings about a fascinating question, namely. If the beauty of god is static and unchanging how could he have created such dynamic and pied beauty in nature? This is a deeply philosophical questioning and reflects his desire for other people to think and view natural beauty in a deeper and more insightful light.
On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed my deep reading of pied beauty. Mostly because of the pure joy and energy communicated by the language coupled with the poems lyrical and mystical sound. Understanding it isn’t even a major component because the words speak for themselves without having to deal with the messy, inefficient business of having to make sense. Even when one takes another reading, in order to read a little deeper, there is a treasure trove of ideas, opinions, philosophies and questions to be found. This makes pied beauty a very interesting and powerful poem through its masterful use of imagery, sound and language. The essence of the poem is trying to reflect the innermost essence of nature in its beautiful, surreal and mystical element.
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