Poetry Comparison Essay

Poetry, whether written in 1877 or 1922, has a brilliant effect of diving into one’s mind and unfolding latent meanings that otherwise remain undiscovered (Browning and Cousin 242-243, 331). Coming from two opposite worlds, Gerard Hopkins and Robert Frost have both left their imprints on the universal galaxy of poetry. “Pied Beauty” written by Hopkins in the 19th century alongside Frost’s 20th century “Design,” are two identical yet alien poems that express the concept of religion through the usage of literary elements such as imagery and theme. Evidently, both poems have raindrops of nature imagery sprinkled throughout which consequents a likeness between them. Given the fact that “’Design’ begins with a scene in nature,” an instant aura of earth-like visuals comes about (Fagan and Seltzer 46). Further, Hopkins sets up his ethereal scene by incorporating vivid images such as how a “Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls,” alongside “finches’ wings/” and “Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;” (4-5).1 In a similar vein, Hopkins and
“Design” does not stray away from religion given the point of fact that Frost does “not dispute the idea that the poem explores the existence and nature of god” (Clarke 114). Corresponding with Frost’s religious ideology is Hopkins’s joyous outlook to God which he portrays in the fundamental line of the poem: “Glory be to God for dappled things” (Hopkins 1). Within “Pied Beauty,” “The ‘argument’ of the poem moves from the first line in which the poet alone praises God for the beauty of ‘dappled things,’ to the last line in which the ‘viewer’ is asked to join in such praise” which has a repercussion of embellishing the poem with a constant reassurance of a religious theme (Lowenstein 65). Earth being a creation of some type of omnipotent religious figure is a concurrent theme represented by the two