[35] The Windhover

I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
    dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
    Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
    As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
    Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, - the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
    Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!

No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
    Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.

    -- Gerard Manley Hopkins

The very first Hopkins poem I read, and still one of my favourites.
Hopkins' wonderful sense of rhythm is shown at its best here - his
sweeping syllables seem to take on a life of their own, reflecting the
glory of the falcon's flight. This is one of those poems where form and
content match almost perfectly.

t.

From: Lennard Chow <Lennard_Chow@>

One of the most beautiful pieces of poetry indeed. I am still awaiting
someone to give a detailed explanation of stanzas 3 & 4, though

From: Alistair SCOTT <alistair.scott@>

A phenomenal poem. Sends shivers down my spine every time I read it. Hopkins' mastery of the language is well-nigh perfect.

Alistair Scott

From: "michaelmas" <michaelmas@>

A wonderful spiritual poem - most beautiful!

From: "Kay Terry" <kayterry@>

I can offer one interpretation of stanzas 3 and 4; one recurring theme in
GMH's poems is the contrast between outward appearances and inward reality.
The Windhover demonstrates this.

Here he contrasts not only the unbridgeable gap between the wondrous
physical abilities of the bird, and the pedestrian, gravity-held ponderous
capabilities of people; but also examines the opposing natures of his own
outward appearance and the inner, bright-burning love he has for God. In
stanza 3, he attempts to demonstrate the magnitude of that love. For all the
grace, beauty and effortless majesty displayed by the bird, how much greater
is the reward to GMH of a moment of communion with God - 'a billion times
told lovelier, O my chevalier.' The wonder of the falcon's flight 'here
Buckles...' - comes to nought - when held in comparison with that
soul-searing moment when God stands near.

You see, GMH, as a Jesuit priest in the RC Church, wore dull, duly humble
clothing, covering him from head to foot. In addition, he was not a
physically prepossessing person, and he knew that, if judged only by
appearances, he would not be considered all that glorious an example of God
s love and grace. As is the bird.

In stanza 4, the explanation; and again the metaphors for contrasting outer
drab with inner glory. ' No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down
sillion shine..'. A sillion is the blade of a plough, that cuts down into
the earth, unseen, and is covered by the brown of the earth. The action of
the plough blade cutting through the soil wears the blade bright, shining
and clean. 'Sheer plod' - the dogged pursuit of the ploughing activity
causes the shining result.  Like GMH with his glorious inner fire for God
covered by the brown of his priests' habit; and the 'sheer plod' of the
daily devotions, contemplations and efforts of his service as a priest will
hone, brighten and clean his inner, hidden soul to the same perfection of
appearance.  The 'blue-bleak embers' - refer to the appearance of an ember,
when it cools to a dull, grey-brown outer crust; but when it falls from the
grate to the hearth and breaks open ('fall, gall themselves..') it reveals
the bright, hot, brilliantly alive centre - ('gash gold-vermilion).

Thus GMH wants to say that his uninspiring outer crust - his frail body and
priests clothing, likewise conceal just such a wondrous burning 'gold
vermilion' love for God that effectively equalises him with the bird in its
outward beauty.

Anyway, that's how I see stanzas 3 and 4. I hope I haven't just written
someone's GMH assignment for them.

Kay Terry

From: Robert Madden <madden@>

Hopkins' "The Windhover"

Stanza 1:
The writer gushes about the flight of a falcon.
Stanza 2:
The writer particularly admires the falcon's sharp swooping moves. A 
continuation of the theme from stanza 1, "... off forth on a swing, As a 
skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding..." When 
the falcon "buckles", it's more exciting to watch. The "fire that breaks 
forth" on these "dangerous" passes is the best part of the flying, for 
the same reason that people pay to see a very good ice skater do 
dangerous jumps instead of just gliding around the rink. Hopkins admires 
the bravery of the act, although a falcon is probably not sensible of 
courage.
Stanza 3:
We should not be surprised that a falcon can swoop masterfully. The 
simple act of pulling a plow's blade through a furrow polishes the blade 
shiny, i.e. this bird does it every day, all day long. The falcon has 
had a lot of practice and has been polished by the effort.
"Sillon" is a French word for a slot, furrow, or wrinkle. But sillon 
doesn't quite rhyme with vermillion. Sillion is a French family name, 
possibly derived from sillon. He must have searched long and hard for 
this rhyme, eh?
The part about the "blue-bleak embers" falling and making a lively 
display of sparks in their final death seems out of place with the 
preceding line. From a seemingly hopeless situation comes a brilliant 
flash of light. Also incongruous is the phrase about "gall themselves, 
and gash". To gall something is to rub it raw by friction, or to cause 
it irritation and injury. Doesn't sound like something an ember does 
when it breaks. To gash is to make a long, deep cut. Both verbs go 
better with the "plow" line. The plow blade galls itself as it gashes 
the soil to make a sillon. In the embers line, he presents another 
example of something that through "buckling" is seen more glorious than 
it was in its former, "bleak" state. The falcon doesn't suffer any 
injury from swooping, so it's a stretch. To lace these two images 
together, he galled and gashed them. This poem is probably a diffuse 
mixture of metaphors about the public ministry, flogging, crucifixion, 
and resurrection of Jesus, who revealed the glory of his life through 
suffering and dying. Jesus also told parables about sowing the seed of 
the good news of the gospel. Hopkins' dedication of the poem is "To 
Chist Our Lord".

RM

From: Jkenath@

One of GMH's masterpieces, if not the one.  I read it nearly everyday and yet 
have it imperfectly memorized, perhaps one very, very day I shall truly catch 
the Falcon in "his striding high there..."

From: "Robeto Persivale" <rtpersivale@>

h

From: "Robeto Persivale" <rtpersivale@>

The first stanza indicates that the narrator saw a beautiful image of a
Falcon in the morning sunlight. The narrator includes a vivid reply to
morning minion's flight. "I caught this morning morning's minion," In
this first line of the poem and the poet is speaking about something
"Minion", lovely, he saw that morning, and in the next line he indicates
the Falcon is morning's minion. The Falcon is personified as prince or
ruler of dawn and this is explained through the poet's use of the word
"dauphin." "Kingdom of daylight's dauphin" indicates the Falcon is the
prince of the day, "Kingdom". "Dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon," This is a
description the poet uses to explain the Falcon's flight. Besides the
Falcon's power and beauty, the narrator noticed it's been "drawn" by the
morning light.

            "High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing in
his ecstasy!" tells me that the Falcon's flight was done in a simple,
elegant, and beautiful way. The poet notes a change in the Falcon's
flight. This is shown when the narrator uses a strong word like
"ecstasy." "Then off, off forth on swing," Changes the tone as if
something has happened. "As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend."
This simile shows the splendor of the Falcon's change in flight. The
last sentence describes the poet's own feelings about how he felt when
he saw this. "My heart in hiding Stirred for a bird,-- the achieve of,
the mastery of the thing!"

            The second stanza consists of things that indicate the
poet's enthusiasm as he saw the Falcon fly down to his prey, with words
like "oh". "Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle!" Indicates how the bird went down on its prey. The second
exclamation is the reaction that Hopkins has to what he is seeing. The
Falcon flew bravely at this moment and the poet ends the second stanza
with "O my chevalier!", or knight.

            In this last stanza the poet has makes it clear that the
bird's flight makes the land below shine like the shine of the morning
sunlight. The "blue-bleak embers" refer to the blue sky that the Falcon
flies through. It ends with the poet saying "ah my dear, Fall, gall
themselves, and gash gold-vermilion." Probably speaking to the Falcon.
This part of the poem expresses something different from the rest sense
of the poem.

            In conclusion the poem is a poet's passionate reaction of a
Falcon's flight. He saw the Falcon's flight in the morning and he was
impressed by its magnificence. We can say that the poem show us a
relationship between a man and a bird, when he talks to the bird "O my
chevalier," and expresses his admiration through the powerful words he
uses.

From: Peter Rivard <peter@>

	Interesting variety of takes on the last two stanzas.  Given the 
poem's subtitle, which for whatever reason was omitted here ("For 
Christ our Lord") and Hopkins insistence, as a Jesuit priest, on the 
physicality of the incarnation, I imagine, in addition to the points 
made above, a clearer identification of the falcon and Christ.
	After its beautiful soaring, the falcon buckles--goes into a fall.  It 
pulls in its wings and plummets.  In yielding to gravity, it becomes 
both more awe-inspiring and more dangerous to its enemies--a falcon 
dives to kill, after all.
	In the eyes of a believer, Christ achieves his full majesty and 
awesome power over his enemy--sin and death itself--when he buckles.  
Only in yielding his body to be broken on the cross does achieve his 
destiny (or purpose, if you prefer), and his power is then revealed to 
be far greater than he'd shown in his life.
	To me, both readings--mine and the "inner glory" described above--seem 
to be in play (note that the embers don't reveal their inner beauty, 
they "gash" it when they fall and break apart; the soil reveals its 
beauty, too, when a wound is ripped into it by the plow).
	

From: Peter Rivard <peter@>

	Interesting variety of takes on the last two stanzas.  Given the 
poem's subtitle, which for whatever reason was omitted here ("For 
Christ our Lord") and Hopkins insistence, as a Jesuit priest, on the 
physicality of the incarnation, I imagine, in addition to the points 
made above, a clearer identification of the falcon and Christ.
	After its beautiful soaring, the falcon buckles--goes into a fall.  It 
pulls in its wings and plummets.  In yielding to gravity, it becomes 
both more awe-inspiring and more dangerous to its enemies--a falcon 
dives to kill, after all.
	In the eyes of a believer, Christ achieves his full majesty and 
awesome power over his enemy--sin and death itself--when he buckles.  
Only in yielding his body to be broken on the cross does achieve his 
destiny (or purpose, if you prefer), and his power is then revealed to 
be far greater than he'd shown in his life.
	To me, both readings--mine and the "inner glory" described above--seem 
to be in play (note that the embers don't reveal their inner beauty, 
they "gash" it when they fall and break apart; the soil reveals its 
beauty, too, when a wound is ripped into it by the plow).
	

From: "cssrlimerick" <cssrlimerick@>

As I stood on my childhood's favourite beach in County Clare in Ireland,
ten years ago, and reflected on my recent experience of burn-out, and
the blessing that it became to me, I saw a whole new meaning in this
poem, 'The Windhover- To Christ the Lord'.
I was the one who had been 'striding high there','hurling and gliding',
experiencing 'the achieve of, the mastery...'   I had busy about many
things, -too many things-  and living ' the riding of the rolling level
underneath him steady air'.  Life was achieving and doing.
And then the crash,- '...pride, plume here Buckle'  AND (the Capital
letters here signify the changed situation)- the Buckling of life, the
collapse, the powerlessness and loss of nerve and confidence, the
entering into the cave of Sorrow and spending the necessary time with
Sorrow, the re-discovering of the pain within, - all of this became a
great Blessing, a Gift.  And in the buckling came a new life, richer and
more real. 'The fire that breaks from thee then,  billion times told
lovelier...- the blue-bleak fall and gash gold-vermillion'.  The
'buckling' of the busy, active one leads to a new depth, 'a billion
times told lovelier'.
For all the glory of the Christ, in his miracles and preaching, the
'buckling' in his passion, the silence and utter helplessness of him
before his accusers and on the cross are ' a billion times told
lovlier'.
A great parable of all this is to be found in the film '(Captain) Hook',
 about the ever-busy Peter Pan having to become like a child to find
himself again.
The sick, the wheel-chair bound, can often show to us 'the fire that
breaks from thee then',- in their courage. When the seeming dark embers
collapse, what a wonderful flame within is revealed to us,- they 'gash
gold vermilion'.
Seamus Devitt, C.Ss.R.

From: "Miranda Thomas" <miranda.thomas@>

this is my favourite poem without doubt.
I especially like
"No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
    Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion."

jact

From: "Richard Masters" <richard@>

I am a huge Hopkins fan

I don't really any other poets who have managed to conquer sprung
rhythm
to the same extent.

I think the `gash vermillion for me' does it for me.

Richard

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From: "Richard Masters" <richard@>

This is one of my favourite poems from one of my favourite Poets.

I have read all of the comments from others.

But I feel they have all missed something. Hopkins being a Jesuit was a
very sexually repressed person.

In my humble view, his last three words `gash gold vermillion' were
recognition of the sexuality of the creature which gave him great awe as
much as its beauty. I have read that a former version ended in `For
me'.

Richard


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From: John Mijac <john.mijac@>

Regarding the reference to sillion in G.M. Hopkins' poem, by Kay Terry, I
wonder where Terry found the reference to sillion being a plow?  After much
research, I concluded that sillion was most likely a variant of sillionite,
which is an old (and obscure) term for decayed mica found in rich soils.
This seems more likely to me and makes more contextual sense, while also
elevating the meaning of the verse even more (to my mind.)  So, rather than
the tool being sharpened by the work, the "plowing" reveals the shine (of
the mica flecks) to man of God in creation.

John Mijac

From: John Mijac <john.mijac@>


Regarding the reference to sillion in G.M. Hopkins' poem, by Kay Terry, I
wonder where Terry found the reference to sillion being a plow?  After much
research, I concluded that sillion was most likely a variant of sillionite,
which is an old (and obscure) term for decayed mica found in rich soils.
This seems more likely to me and makes more contextual sense, while also
elevating the meaning of the verse even more (to my mind.)  So, rather than
the tool being sharpened by the work, the "plowing" reveals the shine (of
the mica flecks) to man of God in creation.

John Mijac

From: <eid@>

The Patriots stretch out their wings over the earth to bring peace and
democracy? Has Hopkin's vision of a gash gold-vermillion gratied? - It
is nothing, but a chain of words intertwined to expose the anarchy of
living..... Regards, Abd.kareem





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From: Edinjock@

I think Kay Terry comes closest to the meaning, especially in her comments on 
Hopkins' own feelings about his drab pedestrian life.  Nearly all the other 
commentators miss the spiritual and theological element in the poem.  The poem 
is so dense that I find new meaning and insight every time I read it.

John Irvine.