Carrion Comfort - Gerard Manley Hopkins Flashcards
About Gerard Manley Hopkins
1844-1889
quote about the speaker’s deteriorating physicality and emotional/mental tolerance
(STANZA 1)
parenthesis of “slack they may be” in reference to his ‘last stands of man’
quote about the speaker longing for darkness to leave; for the battle or struggle to be over
(STANZA 1)
“wish day to come”
quote about the speaker persevering through his darkness
STANZA 1
parallel sentence structure?? “I can no more. I can.”
quote about using God as a scapegoat for his despair - accusing God for causing him turmoil
(STANZA 1)
“darksome devouring eyes my bruised bones”
- double alliteration suggests God takes delight in his suffering, is mocking him
quote about God using the natural elements to spur a bad reaction out of the speaker
(STANZA 1)
“in terms of tempest, me heaped there; me frantic to avoid thee and flee?”
quote about the natural elements - interpreted as a means of torture - in fact being a means out of suffering (suffering for good)
(STANZA 2)
“my grain lie, sheer and clear”
- rhyme
quote about speaker realising God’s intention was to use suffering for good
(STANZA 2)
“that toil, that coil”
- rhyme suggests it was a deliberately designed it
quote about the speaker thanking God for the suffering he caused
(STANZA 2)
“I kissed the rod. / Hand rather”
- enjambment separates God from the torture device - shows that his intention was never wrong
quote about the speaker questioning who to celebrate for the outcome of his depression
(STANZA 2)
“would laugh, cheer. / Cheer whom though?”
- enjambment creates a change in tone
quote about the speaker reflecting on celebrating God for what he was put through
(STANZA 2)
“heaven-handling flung me, foot trod / Me?”
- structure and enjambment highlights the sheer force of the suffering caused
quote about the speaker being out his depression
- connects to the longing for the depression to be over from STANZA 1
(STANZA 2)
“now done darkness”
quote about the speaker reflecting on the struggle he has just been through with God (final line and closest allusion to Genesis 32)
(STANZA 2)
“lay wrestling with (my God!) my God”
- repetition signals both disbelief and reverence
biblical reference to the speaker symbolically wrestling with God through his depression/darkness
Jacob and God wrestle “until the breaking of day”
- symbolic of darkness and the speaker wishing for day to come.
biblical reference to the speaker of the poem persevering
“I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved.”
- suggests Jacob arguably bests God?
