"The Windhover" and "Spring and Fall"

Things to think about:

"Spring and Fall"

• Once you've heard it read aloud, does it sound particularly apt as an address "to a young child"? Why or why not? And how so? (Metre, alliteration, rhythm?)
• What is the effect of using compound words like "wanwood" and "leafmeal" to describe the state of desolation that Margaret may witness at a later period of her life? (Think Old English "kennings")
• What is the role of "intuition" in this poem? By treating it as sublime, does Hopkins regard it perhaps, as superior to our intellectual or verbal abilities?
• The imagery in the poem ("blight of man"; "Sorrow's springs are the same") recalls the Christian idea of The Fall, does this in any way detract from or enhance the poem's musings on Nature?
• What is the nature of the poet's empathy for Margaret? Does it question the concept of empathy itself? ("as the heart grows older/ It will come to such sights colder")

 "The Windhover"

• Do you perceive a movement in the poem, from a tranquil beginning to a violent, riotous end? How does the choice of imagery and use of colour influence this?
• Drawing evidence from this poem, what aspect of "being Christ" does Hopkins seem to most passionately uphold? 
• What does the concept of inanimate things "selving" themselves remind you of? (Animism? E.E. Cummings, perhaps?)
• How does the "horse" image in the poem influence its general import? Does it evoke specific things to you? Do these detract from or enhance your experience of the poem
  Note: In the Book of Revelations, remember, Christ appears on a white horse to judge and unleash war on the world. This martial aspect of Christianity is intrinsic to the Jesuits. Their formula begins with the phrase: "Whoever desires to serve as a soldier of God". Not to mention Ignatius Loyola's own military background, which made him convert in the first place.
• What do the multiple meanings of "buckle" do to the poem? Add a humbling touch to the kestrel's unrestrained flight? Or heighten its aggressive "mastery" (in the sense of buckling on armour)? Can multiple meanings be retained in its interpretation?
• What do you think the empirical observation of nature - the highly technical details of the bird's aerodynamics, in this case - lends the poem? Does it perhaps embolden the poem's more spiritual lessons that would have remained vague otherwise? Does the scientific, detached reading of his environment allow Hopkins to add gravity to his ultimate spiritual conclusions?

If you have opinions on any of the above, do leave them here. The point is to discuss ideas beyond the classroom: forget about sounding clever or being right. The poems are beautiful and uplifting and if you too have strong feelings about them (even to the contrary), make them known :)