1. God’s Grandeur Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

2. God’s Grandeur
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.         It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;         It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;         And all is seared with trade; Bleared, smeared with toil;         And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;         There lives the dearest freshness deep down things; And though the last lights off the black West went         Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs — Because the Holy Ghost over the bent         World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

3. Musicality…
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.         It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;         It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;         And all is seared with trade; Bleared, smeared with toil;         And wears man‘s smudge and shares man's smell: the soil Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;         There lives the dearest freshness deep down things; And though the last lights off the black West went         Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs — Because the Holy Ghost over the bent         World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

4. How does the poet create a sense of energy and movement?
Comment on:
1. dynamic verbs in the poem
2. a sound effect created by rhyme
3. a sound effect created by alliteration

5. PETRARCHAN / ITALIAN SONNET
God’s Grandeur
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.         It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;         It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;         And all is seared with trade; Bleared, smeared with toil;         And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;         There lives the dearest freshness deep down things; And though the last lights off the black West went         Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs — Because the Holy Ghost over the bent         World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
OCTAVE
SHIFT IN THE ARGUMENT OF THE POEM
SESTET

6. Form and structure
The poem is in the form of a petrarchan sonnet. The first 8 lines (octet) introduce an idea The final 6 (sestet) develop and complete it
Octet:
What is the contrast between man and God described?
What effect does the internal rhyme have?
Find a line of monsyllables. What effect does this have?
Sestet:
Hopkins offers reassurance in a quick simple line.
Which line is it and what does it mean?

7. Ideas of progress: industry and empire The Industrial Revolution
Victorian Britain experienced the effects of the industrial revolution.
Goods could be produced more cheaply and efficiently than before.
Large scale factory systems and production-line manufacturing were introduced.
When Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition on 1 May 1851, her country was the world's leading industrial power, producing more than half its iron, coal and cotton cloth.
But the human cost of industry became a central topic of debate.
Allegory on the significance of steam power, c.1850 ©

8. Themes and Ideas
God’s Grandeur is primarily about the greatness of God and the impact of humans on earth. Written during the time of the Industrial Revolution, Hopkins shows how the world may be potentially ruined by man due to power and selfishness. Hopkins explores man’s indifference to the destruction of sacred natural and religious order. In the second stanza Hopkins explains that the world is perhaps more strong than we imagine and even when things seem bleak, God/Holy Ghost is always watching over us and therefore there is always hope for new beginnings .

9. Form Statement Evidence Analysis
Petrarchan sonnet form, being made up of an octave and a sestet.
In the sestet he uses a Volta to show a turn in argument or a change in tone.
Volta =  TURN
It is a rhetorical shift or dramatic change in thought and/or emotion. 
However unlike the traditional sonnet form Hopkins has not stuck to the traditional iambic pentameter.
For example in the fourth line of the poem he follows stressed syllables with another to create sense of urgency in his question. Why do men then not reck his rod?”
In this way Hopkins attempts to bring make poetry more like natural speech.
Likewise in the next line we find a falling meter
‘have trod, have trod,’
which almost replicates a foot like movement.