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October 15, 2004
From Gerard Manley Hopkins
Typically syntactically tortured, but transcendantly beautiful.
As Kingfishers Catch Fire
Gerard Manley HopkinsAs king fishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves -- goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.
I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is --
Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.
"The just man. . . acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is--Christ." That says it all. And the unjust. Well, see psalm 1 for the answer there.
Posted by Steven Riddle at October 15, 2004 6:41 AM
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Comments
It's always rewarding to see Hopkins :-) When I first tried reading him, I found him bizarre, and then — one day it just clicked, and I saw the genius of it all.
Posted by: Jack Perry at October 15, 2004 8:14 AM