'Pied Beauty' Summary

Gerard Manley Hopkins's poem Pied Beauty is a celebration of the beauty of the natural world. The poem is a catalog of the many different ways in which beauty is manifested in nature, from the "brinded cow" to the "fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls."

Hopkins begins the poem by praising God for the "pied beauty" of the world around him. He uses the word "pied" to describe the many different colors and patterns that can be found in nature. He then goes on to list a variety of examples of this beauty, including:

• The dappled clouds in the sky
• The trout with their rose-colored skin and black spots
• The fallen chestnuts with their reddish-brown nuts
• The goldfinch's wings
• The patchwork landscape of fields and forests
• The "trades" of men and women, which Hopkins sees as a kind of collective beauty

Hopkins's poem is a feast for the senses. He uses vivid imagery and alliteration to create a sense of wonder and awe at the beauty of the world around us. For example, he describes the "brinded cow" as having "sweet-fleshing fold / Thick like the curded milk-flake, tender, cool, / Just-strained, over-lapping its ambient pool" (lines 5-7). The alliteration in the phrase "sweet-fleshing fold / Thick like the curded milk-flake" creates a sense of the cow's soft, smooth skin. The image of the "ambient pool" suggests the cow's own milk, which is another source of beauty.

Hopkins also uses his unique poetic voice to explore the relationship between beauty and God. He sees beauty as a manifestation of God's love and creativity. In the final lines of the poem, he writes:

Glory be to God for dappled things—

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;

And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

Hopkins's use of the word "fathers-forth" in the final line suggests that God is the source of all beauty. He is the one who creates and sustains the beauty of the natural world.

Pied Beauty is a reminder that beauty can be found in all things, even in the most humble and ordinary. It is a poem that will stay with you long after you have finished reading it. It is a poem that will help you to see the beauty of the world around you with new eyes.