
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS
1844 - 1889

THE WINDHOVER
This poem
provides examples of broken rhyme and sprung rhythm.
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( To Christ our Lord )
I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
Windhover is another name
for a kestrel, a small hawk that hovers facing the wind while searching for prey.
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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!
Hopkins' poetry was
first published in 1918, twenty-nine years after his death. His innovative rhythmic technique, condensed
thought, and brilliant images have profoundly influenced twentieth-century poetry.
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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!
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.