"Spring" by Gerard Manley Hopkins is one of those poems that is chock full of religious imagery and allusion.
Spring, in the religious world, is thought of as a time of renewal and rebirth. This poem justifies the Catholic belief in that quite plainly. The first stanza speaks more of the physical beauty of spring. As a sidenote, I like spring and all, but autumn is way better than springtime. In the second stanza, however, there is a reference to the Garden of Eden, Christ, lord, and sinning. These religious images are parallel to spring bringing forth new life from the dead of the winter time and Jesus dying and coming back to life. Although...he died and came back to life much quicker than our seasons go unfortunately.
I would have to disagree with the first line of the first stanza though. While I agree that spring is absolutely beautiful, I don't think I can say that nothing is more beautiful than spring. Of course I love it because it gets me out of winter, but there is something about fall that is just so much more appealing to me. Then again, spring is closer to the end of the school year...which tends to be pretty beautiful. :]
Spring, in the religious world, is thought of as a time of renewal and rebirth. This poem justifies the Catholic belief in that quite plainly. The first stanza speaks more of the physical beauty of spring. As a sidenote, I like spring and all, but autumn is way better than springtime. In the second stanza, however, there is a reference to the Garden of Eden, Christ, lord, and sinning. These religious images are parallel to spring bringing forth new life from the dead of the winter time and Jesus dying and coming back to life. Although...he died and came back to life much quicker than our seasons go unfortunately.
I would have to disagree with the first line of the first stanza though. While I agree that spring is absolutely beautiful, I don't think I can say that nothing is more beautiful than spring. Of course I love it because it gets me out of winter, but there is something about fall that is just so much more appealing to me. Then again, spring is closer to the end of the school year...which tends to be pretty beautiful. :]
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