Binsey Poplars And Nutting Comparative Poetry Essay
‘Poets suggest that there is something to be learned from the land.’ Compare and contrast at least two poems in the light of this statement.
Two poems that indeed suggest that “there is something to be learned from the land” are ‘Binsey Poplars’ and ‘Nutting,’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins and William Wordsworth respectively. In ‘Binsey Poplars’ Hopkins advocates preservation -recognizing the significance of natural things and the wider implications of destroying them. In ‘Nutting’ a similar lesson is presented, almost a warning: to treat nature with delicacy and restraint, to respect nature and leave it undisturbed. These lessons resonate soundly with modern readers who, due to increased awareness and education, tend to be more concerned with conservation than the poets’ contemporary readership.
In ‘Binsey Poplars’ the poet laments the loss of the poplars that grew along the banks of the Thames, from Oxford to the small village of Binsey which were felled in 1879. The poem is a dirge, an elegy for a landscape that Hopkins had known intimately while studying at Oxford, and thus its loss was keenly felt. The poem opens with “My aspens dear…” The possessive pronoun “My” and the adjective “dear” capture from the outset the poet’s sense of extreme personal loss – his cherished and beloved trees are now “All felled, felled, are all felled.” This dramatic line, with its repetition of the pronoun “All” and the verb “felled” is powerful in its sense of grief and sorrow. “All” is an absolute term, and the triple structure combined with the monosyllabic words creates almost an onomatopoeic effect, the accented syllabics reminiscent of the devastating repeated blows of an axe. Further, the alliterative ‘f’ sound in “Of a fresh and following folded rank” sounds crisp and energetic – alive, like the trees. In addition, the personification of the trees effectively depicts them as if they are marching in formation - tall, dignified and proud - which makes the following line all the
Two poems that indeed suggest that “there is something to be learned from the land” are ‘Binsey Poplars’ and ‘Nutting,’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins and William Wordsworth respectively. In ‘Binsey Poplars’ Hopkins advocates preservation -recognizing the significance of natural things and the wider implications of destroying them. In ‘Nutting’ a similar lesson is presented, almost a warning: to treat nature with delicacy and restraint, to respect nature and leave it undisturbed. These lessons resonate soundly with modern readers who, due to increased awareness and education, tend to be more concerned with conservation than the poets’ contemporary readership.
In ‘Binsey Poplars’ the poet laments the loss of the poplars that grew along the banks of the Thames, from Oxford to the small village of Binsey which were felled in 1879. The poem is a dirge, an elegy for a landscape that Hopkins had known intimately while studying at Oxford, and thus its loss was keenly felt. The poem opens with “My aspens dear…” The possessive pronoun “My” and the adjective “dear” capture from the outset the poet’s sense of extreme personal loss – his cherished and beloved trees are now “All felled, felled, are all felled.” This dramatic line, with its repetition of the pronoun “All” and the verb “felled” is powerful in its sense of grief and sorrow. “All” is an absolute term, and the triple structure combined with the monosyllabic words creates almost an onomatopoeic effect, the accented syllabics reminiscent of the devastating repeated blows of an axe. Further, the alliterative ‘f’ sound in “Of a fresh and following folded rank” sounds crisp and energetic – alive, like the trees. In addition, the personification of the trees effectively depicts them as if they are marching in formation - tall, dignified and proud - which makes the following line all the