Critical Analysis Of God's Grandeur

After reading and deeply analyzing Gerard Hopkins’s “God’s Grandeur,” I had a new clarification of God’s unconditional love for the human race. The components of this piece of literature exemplify the roles, both good and bad, that we play in our world; but more importantly, the role that we play in God’s eyes. I realized that the theme of this poem is to proclaim the splendor of our king’s undeserving love and his endowment through the symbolism, diction, and structure displayed in the Italian Petarchan sonnet. Immediately, Hopkins uses the symbol of “the world,” to represent mankind, and the symbol of “grandeur of God,” or the fruits and resources that we can concur were freely given as the responsibility of mankind (line 1). In lines 2

Hopkins’s use of diction along with the structure that he pans out is cohesive in representing the theme of God’s all enduring love as well. The sonnet is written in Iambic pentameter, meaning that each line leads with a stressed syllable, followed by an unstressed syllable, and follows this pattern for five feet. Hopkins’s use of this type structure created a fluidity in the poem which made it easier for me to uncover its underlying theme. The “abba,” and “cdcd” rhyme schemes represented also add to the fluidity of the poem, while emphasizing the shift between diction in the octave and sestet. In the octave, or eight line stanza, Hopkins uses more of a negative connotation through the diction to express the negative role that mankind has played throughout generations, while in the sestet, or the six line stanza, he illustrates the diction with a much more formal and harmonious connotation. Hopkins’s implementation of how well the structure of his poem and his use of diction coincided magnified the theme of God’s love for us from the reader’s perspective. His use of diction, paired with the structure of the poem built feelings of anticipation and serenity inside me, and left the sonnet on replay inside of my mind.
Reflecting back on Gerard Hopkins’s poem “God’s Grandeur,” I have a better understanding of the true “Grandeur” that Hopkins is trying to translate. It is not what God has physically bestowed upon us, or even the fact that we do not deserve life itself. It is the passionate and compelling Godly love which Hopkins has witnessed and portrays throughout the poem by its symbolism, diction, and