1. Gerard Hopkins – ‘Inversnaid’ Date:
Objectives: Introduce the poem.
Explore the theme of nature.

2. Warm up
Inversnaid is a remote part of the Scottish Highlands. Hopkins went there as an old Priest and saw this.
We want to drill in a three part answer system into you. P.E.E, P.E.A. Etc. Write and finish the following. I think......, I see....., I believe

3. Context before reading this poem
It was written after ‘Spring’ and the poet is still trying to examine nature.
The poet stressed the importance of poems being ‘heard’ rather than read when talking about this poem.
The poet ‘invents’ a lot of words here. Many are mixtures of two words.

4. Let’s read – Inversnaid – Gerard M. Hopkins
This darksome burn, horseback brown, His rollrock highroad roaring down, In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam Flutes and low to the lake falls home. A windpuff-bonnet of fáwn-fróth Turns and twindles over the broth Of a pool so pitchblack, féll-frówning, It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning. Degged with dew, dappled with dew Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through, Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern, And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn. What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet

5. Note this down:
Form
Four line, rhyming stanza like a Scottish folk song.
The poem is split into rhyming couplets, each conveying the movement of the running water they describe.
The final stanza begs for them to be preserved.
Like in ‘Spring’, he is suggesting that what is natural is best.
Question to discuss: Do you agree? Is natural better? Think of how we live our lives – hair dye, cars, computers, phones...

6. Note this down: Stanza One
Describes the stream rushing downhill over the rocky, rolling riverbed.
Dramatic language – stream like a horse.
‘Coop’ – confined. ‘Comb’ - running free. Both energetic.
Glossary: Burn- Scottish word for stream. Darksome – mixture of ‘dark’ and ‘handsome’. Question to discuss: Can you describe the river in town?

7. Note this down: Stanza Two
Describes the bottom of a waterfall. The froth or foam is where the water hits the pool. It is like a hat.
It is thick and brown from the peat soil. It is so dark and menacing that even ‘despair’ would drown.
Question to discuss: ‘Despair’ dying – is that a good thing or a bad thing. Is what defeats despair to be loved or feared?

8. Note this down: Stanza Three
Describes the upper part of the stream (now called a brook). It flows gentler than before.
The speaker has more time now to look around. He describes the ‘groins’ (narrow folds of the river), the sprinkling of dew and red berries (beadbonny ash).
Question to discuss: The poets spent three stanzas describing a stream of water he saw once. Discuss different ways of expressing how much he liked nature.

9. Note this down: Stanza Four
While the first three stanzas are purely descriptive, the final one reflects on the value of what we have seen.
As a lover of nature, Hopkins asks that they be left alone.
Question to discuss – Hopkins believed in the value of natural landscapes and preservation. How important to you consider them to be? Honestly.
3-4 sentences.

10. Note this down: Techniques
Alliteration – The energetic surge of the water is emphasised in strong alliteration. (B’s and R’s)
Repetition – The music of the stream is reflected in the repetition of the musical ‘r’ sound.
Personification – says ‘his’, not its in line 2. It is a living stream.

11. Questions on back of page
Complete questions for homework.
Cooldown - finish the following sentences.
I think......
I know
I want to know