Pied Beauty

Question 1

Author background

Answer 1

He was a deeply intellectual and religious man, and became a Jesuit priest in 1877

Question 2

Themes

Answer 2

Nature. God
Writing style is similar to Psalm 148: “Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created.” => how God is found in every aspect that we describe in the poem

Question 3

Significant literary technique

Answer 3

• Alliteration/Sibilance occurs throughout the poem => despite the fact that that the words sometimes contrast each other, unifying all aspects so they are somehow similar (created by God)
• Contrasts in line 9

Question 4

Layout of poem

Answer 4

every rhyming lines are indented to the same extent => structured but has diversity.
last line:”Praise him” center aligned which stands out =>celebrating God

Question 5

Stanza 1 word analysis

Answer 5

“Glory be to God for dappled things”-
“For skies of couple-colour as a brindled cow”
“For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim”
=> -dappled, brinded, couple-colour: different shades of colours
-stipple conveys the patterns => forms of variation found in animals is a form of art from God
- also ranges from trout to cow and mentions the sky, => trying to include all aspects by addressing one of the broadest concepts possible: The land, sea and sky => god create greatness

Question 6

Stanza 2 word analysis

Answer 6

“All things counter, original, spare, strange”
=> “counter” represents how everything on this Earth is in essence, extraordinary. “original”, “strange” also supports this and conveys diversity
Rather than list specific objects, he uses adjectives to describe their equalities => can address a million different things that can fit the reader’s interpretation instead of only talking about a few small specific objects that some can fail to appreciate => broader => variation
- Contrasts “swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim” but are different forms of senses => similarities and differences => “strange” and “extraordinary”
- “Fathers-forth” => God is portrayed as the trinity, the father, son and the Holy Spirit. In this sense he can be making a reference to God as a kind father
-“Praise him”. Note that at the beginning God starts with “G” but here, lower case “h” => indicates that God is humble

Question 7

Main message

Answer 7

Expresses his gratitude in God for making all the beautiful things that we now see in this world. Hence, we should “praise him”