The Structure within the Battle of Windhover

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The Structure within the Battle of Windhover

The images throughout the "Windhover" recognize the battle Jesus Christ fought while He walked the earth. The battle involved Jesus fighting for humankind’s eternal salvation and the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. Gerard Manley Hopkins, author of the poem, reinforces this imagery of the battle along with undercutting the imagery to add more confusion and mystery to this already complex poem. Through stressed words at the beginning of the line, highlighting a particular significance with two and even three continuous stresses, to containing seven stresses in one line, Hopkins bluntly emphasizes pivotal words and lines in the poem, Hopkins stresses and depreciates distinctive words, phrases, and lines in attempt to emphasize significant events in Christ’s life along with the motivation of Jesus Christ through His battle.

Hopkins begins the poem on what appears to be a regular five-stressed line on an iambic baseline. However, the immediate perception of the normality of the baseline is quickly shattered because of the lack of sense the line makes. At the end of the first line, the word ‘kingdom’ is divided in half between the first line ending in "king" and the second line beginning in "dom". This disruption in meter and the absence of a harmonious rhythm reinforces the image of the beginning of human’s creation. In the beginning, God created humans out of His generosity, graciousness, and love with the distinct motive of only creating something good in His image and likeness. God continues to create humans with the same motive in mind, but unfortunately, man disrupted the complete goodness that God intended. When Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, human...

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..., although, finding happiness and joy within the pain is the real paradox in life.

Hopkins certainly emphasizes the historical and meaningful events that made up the battle Christ fought on earth, through the rhythm pattern of the poem. The opponents of Jesus Christ did not realize that they possessed absolutely no chance to win the war. One day the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. Jesus replied, "and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you (Luke 17: 21)." The moment of the Incarnation, the kingdom of God was established. For the opponents failed to understand and to know that Jesus Christ is the kingdom.

Works Cited:

Hopkins, Gerald Manley. "The Windhover." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams et al. 5th ed. Vol. 2 New York: Norton, 1966,1583.

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