{"id":3672,"date":"2020-10-30T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T04:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3672"},"modified":"2020-10-30T13:33:16","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T17:33:16","slug":"oct-30-a-subtle-and-recondite-thought-gerard-manley-hopkins-sj-1887","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/10\/30\/oct-30-a-subtle-and-recondite-thought-gerard-manley-hopkins-sj-1887\/","title":{"rendered":"Oct 30 – “a subtle and recondite thought” Gerard Manley Hopkins sj 1887"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, October 30 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201ca billion\u00a0times told lovelier\u201d<\/p>\n

Autumn\u2019s gusty winds; \u00a0Covid weariness across our land calling for courage and hope in the teeth of fear and anger as our national elections loom. \u00a0 A good morning for story-telling and story listening, to stand still a minute, breathe in deeply, stand still a little more, and read one of Gerard Manley Hopkins\u2019 magical poems.<\/p>\n

Hopkins\u2019 poems are [in]famous for the density of their vocabulary. \u00a0If you want to catch all the descriptive meaning packed in these 16 sonnet lines, bring a good dictionary. \u00a0Hopkins\u2019 life-long friend poet laureate Robert Bridges often ground his aesthetic teeth at what seemed to him to be Hopkins\u2019 unnecessary complexity.<\/p>\n

On November 6, 1887, Hopkins wrote Bridges, simultaneously teasing his friend and attempting to explain the density of his poetic language. \u00a0 \u00a0Try reading GMH\u2019s explanation out loud; note that this apologia for demanding word choices emerges as a single, grammatically-correct sentence. So, take a deep breath before you begin. \u00a0For that matter, try reading \u201cThe Windhover\u201d out loud as the poet intended.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlainly if it is possible to express a subtle and recondite thought on a subtle and recondite subject in a subtle and recondite way and with great felicity and perfection in the end, something must be sacrificed, with so trying a task, in the process, and this may be the being at once, nay perhaps even the being without explanation at all, intelligible.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t you wish you could write like that? \u00a0You\u2019d have to have patient friends as readers though.<\/p>\n

Have a blest day,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post \u00a0 \u00a0\u2013 \u00a0 \u201cThe Windhover: \u00a0To Christ our Lord\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

I caught this morning morning\u2019s minion, king-
\ndom of daylight\u2019s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in
\nhis riding<\/p>\n

Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
\nHigh there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
\nIn his ecstasy! \u00a0then off, off forth on swing,
\nAs a skate\u2019s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl
\nand gliding
\nRebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
\nStirred for a bird,\u2013the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!<\/p>\n

Brute beauty and valor and act, oh, air, pride, plume here
\nBuckle! \u00a0And the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
\nTimes told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!<\/p>\n

No wonder of it: \u00a0sh\u00e9er pl\u1ed1d makes plough down sillion
\nShine, and blue-bleak embers, a my dear,
\nFall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.<\/p>\n

Gerard Manley Hopkins
\n28 July 1844 \u2013 8 June, 1889<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, October 30 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201ca billion\u00a0times told lovelier\u201d Autumn\u2019s gusty winds; \u00a0Covid weariness across our land calling for courage and hope in the teeth of fear and anger as our national elections loom. \u00a0 A good morning for story-telling and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3672"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3673,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672\/revisions\/3673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}