Poem: God's Grandeur

[Tek7 (Legacy)]

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.

-Gerard Manley Hopkins


Before you cheat and Google this poem, how old do you think it is, given the content and tone?

And discuss.

NOTE: I thought I'd try this as an experiment, maybe draw in a few folks from Creation In Digital, and see what happens. If we get a good discussion going, I might be posting other poems or passages from other literature.

 

[Atown]

within the last 100 years im guessing. not sure what its talking about becuase i cant ever get the grammar right when reading those things

 

[Jeshurun]

This poem seems to have the old style of writing from the days of old but it is not old. At the most a few years old I would say.

Yes it is hard to understand it because of many metafors but there is a truthfulness to it none the less.

 

[kraniac]

That was a great poem.

 

[BlazeQ]

I'd guess around the time of Second Industrial Revolution because of the content, but the grammar seems way too modern. Maybe in the last 10-20 years. Ooze seems like something people back then wouldn't use. Then again, who around this time is named Gerard Manley Hopkins?

 

[LITSAFALDA]

I don't have a guess Tek but pouts am a bit disappointed. Not that I dislike the poem gonna have to digest it a bit more, but I thought it was gonna be one of YOUR writings that you were gracing us. ((((( I hate trying to write proper sentences...... I like writing how I talk smiles.))))))
I hope your experiement works and come now people if you saw some of the names I see on a daily basis you would know any name is possible at any point in history.
Blessings,"Angel"

 

[Tek7 (Legacy)]

within the last 100 years im guessing.

This poem seems to have the old style of writing from the days of old but it is not old. At the most a few years old I would say.

I'd guess around the time of Second Industrial Revolution because of the content, but the grammar seems way too modern. Maybe in the last 10-20 years.

If viewing the poem for the first time, I'd likely post an estimate similar to those quoted above. But the poem was not written in the last 100 years. Though I don't have an exact date, I know it was written before Hopkins died...one hundred and seventeen years ago.

I think this poem perfectly illustrates the point that the nature of humanity does not change. The trend toward abandoning or disregarding one's relationship with nature and its Creator ("the soil / Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod") is a recurring theme in literature and poetry. In short, in the words of Solomon, "there is nothing new under the sun."

We're dealing with many of the same issues that Hopkins confronted in his time: disillusionment with organized religion, the abandonment of faith in favor of scientism, and a view of nature as something to be controlled and exploited rather than to be protected.

I don't have a guess Tek but pouts am a bit disappointed. Not that I dislike the poem gonna have to digest it a bit more, but I thought it was gonna be one of YOUR writings that you were gracing us.

/blush

I haven't written a poem in several months. I've all but stopped writing poetry as I've found that I'm not very good at it. I've taken to writing short stories (or at least outlines for short stories) and excerpts of longer stories. I tend to gravitate toward dialogue, so I'm working up the courage to write a screenplay for a short film (five to ten minutes) soon.

Still, it's good to know that some people are still interested in my writing endeavors.