Questions and Answers
What literary device does Hopkins use to create a sense of the falcon's movement and appearance?
What literary device is used in the sentence 'off, off' to create a sense of movement?
What does the 'fire' in the line 'the fire that breaks from thee then' symbolise?
Study Notes
The Windhover by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Themes
- The beauty of creation and the natural world
- Celebration of nature
- God's divine power
- Mankind's connection with nature
- Nature as a restorative force
Style
- Intensely detailed imagery
- Complex language
- Compound-words (e.g. "dapple-dawn-drawn")
- Euphonic sound effects (e.g. alliteration, sibilance)
- Caesura (e.g. exclamation marks)
- Enjambment (e.g. running on sentences without punctuation)
Imagery and Symbolism
- The windhover (falcon) represents beauty, power, and freedom
- The natural world is depicted as majestic and awe-inspiring
- Light and darkness are used to contrast beauty and ugliness
- The windhover's movement is described in vivid detail, emphasizing its connection to nature
Poetic Devices
- Anadiplosis (repetition of words or phrases, e.g. "off, off")
- Ellipsis (omission of words, e.g. "I caught...")
- Simile (e.g. "As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend")
- Hyperbole (exaggeration, e.g. "a billion times told lovelier")
- Internal rhyme (e.g. "gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion")
Tone and Emotions
- The poem conveys a sense of wonder, awe, and ecstasy
- The speaker is deeply moved by the beauty of the windhover
- The poem expresses a sense of connection to nature and God's power
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Description
Explore the themes and ideas in The Windhover, a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins that celebrates the natural world and God's divine power through the imagery of a falcon.