This man uses the perfect retrospective manner to read the poem beautifully. His age adds to the power of the poem too, how I imagine Hopkins to portray it :)
Throughout “God’s Grandeur”, Hopkins’ uses different forms of language to explore the motif of Power Over Destruction. Likewise, the motif of Light Over Darkness or God versus Man. Written in Petrarchan Sonnet, the octave associates God with power and light while man with destruction and darkness. God is depicted holding a‘rod’ which represents his superiority over Man where his ‘grandeur’ and greatness’ cannot be destroyed. The simile compares it to the ‘ooze of oil’. With more visual imagery, God is related to an electric charge on The Earth, with bright flashes of light ‘shining from shook foil’, like that of lightening. The storm where it strikes, is the destruction man has caused. The spondee 'flame out' suggests that darkness seems to prevail. By using the verbs ‘ seared, bleared, smeared’ along with the alliteration of ‘s’, ‘man’s smudge’ is further emphasized, which denote negative change with ruin. The repetition and onomatopoeia of ‘have trod’ in line 5, help us visualize this slow movement through mud and polluted Earth. Also, the question in Line 4 is filled with stressed words, along with the naturally slow, solemn rhythm of the poem, accentuate Hopkins’ concern with man’s destructive nature and ignorance of God.
Throughout “God’s Grandeur”, Hopkins’ uses different forms of language to explore the motif of Power Over Destruction. Likewise, the motif of Light Over Darkness or God versus Man. Written in Petrarchan Sonnet, the octave associates God with power and light while man with destruction and darkness. God is depicted holding a‘rod’ which represents his superiority over Man where his ‘grandeur’ and greatness’ cannot be destroyed. The simile compares it to the ‘ooze of oil’. With more visual imagery, God is related to an electric charge on The Earth, with bright flashes of light ‘shining from shook foil’, like that of lightening. The storm where it strikes, is the destruction man has caused. The spondee 'flame out' suggests that darkness seems to prevail. By using the verbs ‘ seared, bleared, smeared’ along with the alliteration of ‘s’, ‘man’s smudge’ is further emphasized, which denote negative change with ruin. The repetition and onomatopoeia of ‘have trod’ in line 5, help us visualize this slow movement through mud and polluted Earth. Also, the question in Line 4 is filled with stressed words, along with the naturally slow, solemn rhythm of the poem, accentuate Hopkins’ concern with man’s destructive nature and ignorance of God.
Whereas the first stanza was powerfully intense, the sestet restores a slightly soothing balance, with the reassurance of God’s light returning after darkness. More positive words like 'dearest freshness, springs' are used. With all this darkness and the seeming end of ‘last lights’, the beginning of a new day comes. Hopkins’ expresses the light of ‘morning’, or perhaps it is a pun with the word 'mourning'. There is new life to come to this broken ‘bent’ world. Alluding to Christian beliefs, the ‘Holy Ghost’, is symbolized by a dove. This animal imagery, with its ‘bright wings’ and pure white contrasts beautifully with the stanza before of man’s tainted world. After seeming doom, comes redemption and this idea of salvation.
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