Growing older, remembering ones youth, Spring and Fall by Gerard Manley Hopkins represents aging. The poem starts with a question for Margaret asking if she is grieving. The speaker of the poem in my opinion seems to be letting Margaret know that everything that she is grieving and crying for such as the leaves will come to an end in time. I also think that the speaker is taking a rather jaded point of view. Yes, the speaker is speaking from his/her own experiences, but it is rather one sided to assume that Margaret will have those same experiences as well as grow cold to the changing of the seasons (growing older).
I will agree that there will come a time when Margaret will look back on her life and remember it as seasons, yet I do not believe she will look back with coldness. I believe she will look back on her life with happiness and laughter for her crying about the changing of seasons.
The last line of the poem, "It is Margaret you mourn for," may mean that if Margaret now, is not who she had planned to be then she will truly mourn for not herself, but for the dreams and goals that went unfulfilled. The last line is a universal line, that we all will one day come to realize for ourselves.
I agree that it does seem like the speaker is a little jaded. But it is natural to assume that childlike innocence cannot last forever. I also liked this poem and wrote about it. However, I thought that she was mourning the decay of autumn because it reminded her that she too would decay and die. Over time she would "come to some sights colder" because she would come to accept her eventual death, and that of others, as a natural part of life.
ReplyDeleteTony,
ReplyDeleteGood poem to discuss, with some insightful comments and speculation on the meaning of Hopkins's text. You tend to rely on paraphrase and summary here, though, rarely quoting or discussing any specific words or phrases. That approach tends to weaken your analysis, and certainly makes it harder to persuade your reader of your interpretation.