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Binsey Poplars

The poem "Binsey Poplars" by Gerard Manley Hopkins laments the felling of a row of aspen trees along the River Thames in Binsey, England. Hopkins, working as a priest's assistant, was shocked to see the trees had been cut down, comparing the fallen trunks to "a fresh and following folded rank" of fallen soldiers. He exclaims sorrow at humanity's thoughtless destruction of nature, and warns that future generations will be deprived of enjoying the countryside's former beauty once its damaged. The poem uses techniques like repetition, simile, personification, alliteration and biblical allusion to convey Hopkins' message about humanity's abuse and irreversible harming of the natural world through unchecked

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1K views

Binsey Poplars

The poem "Binsey Poplars" by Gerard Manley Hopkins laments the felling of a row of aspen trees along the River Thames in Binsey, England. Hopkins, working as a priest's assistant, was shocked to see the trees had been cut down, comparing the fallen trunks to "a fresh and following folded rank" of fallen soldiers. He exclaims sorrow at humanity's thoughtless destruction of nature, and warns that future generations will be deprived of enjoying the countryside's former beauty once its damaged. The poem uses techniques like repetition, simile, personification, alliteration and biblical allusion to convey Hopkins' message about humanity's abuse and irreversible harming of the natural world through unchecked

Uploaded by

Ray B
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BINSEY POPLARS

GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS


BACKGROUND OF THE POET:
Gerald Manley Hopkins was born on 28th July, 1844 at Stratford, Essex, England. He was one of the
greatest poets of the Victorian Era (18th-19th Century social revolution). He burnt all his poems and did
not write for many years when he decided to become a priest. His major themes were based on ‘’nature’’
and ‘’religion.’’ He died on 8th June, 1889 at Dublin, Ireland.
PLOT ACCOUNT/SUBJECT MATTER:
Gerald M. Hopkins was working as a priest’s assistant in Oxford, England. On the 13th March 1879, he was
moving around the north of the city, he came to the little village of Binsey. He was shocked to find that a
row of aspen trees or a long line of tall trees along the River Thames had been felled. ‘’All felled, felled, are
all felled.’’ He condemned the deliberate action of cutting down of some valuable tress in the village of
Binsey. He compared the line of trees to a rank of soldiers. ‘’Of a fresh and following folded rank.’’ In the
second stanza, there was an exclamation of sorrow, horror and sadness. ‘’O if we but knew what we do,
’when we delve or hew’’. This means the nature is fragile and any damage done to it will make nature to
lose its beauty. Any attempt to interfere with nature is an act of irreversible destruction. ‘’Where we, even
where we mean’’, ‘’To mend her we end her, ‘’when we hew or delve.’’ The unborn generations will not
have knowledge of beauty of the countryside before humans thoughtlessly destroy it. ‘’Only ten or
twelve,’’ ‘’strokes of havoc unselve.’’
THEMES FROM THE POEM:
 Vandalization of Environment: We can see the degradation of the earth and waste of natural
resources. This was caused by rapid industrialization. Trees were cut down to give way for rural
development.
 Sacrilege: The poet considers deforestation as a sacrilegious offence. He used Jesus Christ words to
explain it when he said ‘’father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’’
 Lamentation: The poet laments or regards the actions of human beings towards the destruction of
the environment in which they live.
POETIC DEVICES/LITERARY TERMS FROM THE POEM
 Language: The poem is complicated by unusual construction of sentences. Some words are used in
special forms e.g., ‘’unselve’’ (ruin, destroy), ‘’especial’’ (special, important), ‘’dandled’’ (dangled). ‘’Felled’’
(deliberate and wanton destruction of aspen trees). In second stanza, there were punctuation marks which
range from a dash, an exclamation mark, a colon to commas.
 Repetition: It is when words or phrases are used severally in poems. ‘’The sweet especial scene,’’
sweet especial rural scene’’ lines 22 and 24. ‘’Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve’’ line 20. These were used
to show that human beings should be more sensitive to nature and what is done to it.
 Simile: This is comparison of two things that share same features but are from different nature. The
countryside is compared with the ‘’Seeing Eye’’ lines 14-15 ‘’that, like this sleek and seeing ball,’’ But a
prick will make no eye at all.’’ This means that eye is a delicate thing and it should be taken care of
properly.
 Personification: The transfer of the quality of animate object into inanimate object. Nature was
considered as a woman. ’’Since country is so tender’’ To touch her being so slender.’’ ‘’Her’’ is used for
countryside. The tree’s shadows look like someone’s leg with sandals on. Lines 6-8.
 Alliteration: This is the repetition of same sound in poetry. The following are examples: Quelled or
quenched in leaves (Q, Q), Felled, felled are all felled (F, F, F) etc. These show how human beings abuse
nature in countless cases.
 Visual image: This is the creation of mental picture in the mind of a reader or listener. The whole
poem creates a visual image that poplars lining the river near Binsey had been cut down. ‘’airy cages’’ (in
providing shade). The entire picture of destruction is visual out by the words ‘’delve or hew’’ (dig or cop
down trees).
 Biblical Allusion: It is when reference is made to thing already known by a reader. The poet used
Biblical allusion in Luke 23:24 ‘’forgive them father for they know not what they do.’’ In the poem, we have
‘’O if we but know what we do.’’ It means human beings are ignorant of the ecological implications when
they ruin nature.

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