Pied Beauty

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1918

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Variation in Nature

In Hopkins’s interpretation, beauty is “counter, original, spare, strange; / Whatever is fickle, freckled” (Lines 7-8). When scratching the surface of the poem, the most obvious theme relates to what defines beauty in the natural world. For Hopkins, natural beauty is defined by its variation. The poem’s title points to this: If beauty is “pied,” it means that it is composed of two or more colors. It is unique in its pattern. Rather than describing images of pure blue skies, white leopards, or golden-scaled fish, Hopkins focuses on some of the more overlooked beauties found in nature, specifically spotted trout and dotted landscapes. He also references things that are sometimes considered “flaws” of human beauty, such as “freckle[s]” (Line 8). Hopkins references a variable beauty that emphasizes God’s creativity—He has made a world in which beauty is unique and unregulated—and God’s own constant, unwavering beauty. Hopkins emphasizes the unique appeal of variation in nature and illustrates one of the key tenets of Christian belief; the world is created by a perfect Creator, so therefore the natural world (in all its variations) is perfect in its imperfection.

God’s Constancy

The natural world, with its changeability and imperfections is juxtaposed with a Creator “whose beauty is past change” (Line 10). This juxtaposition accomplishes two things; first, it reminds the reader that God is beyond the natural, human world in all capacities. God’s beauty is beyond human understanding, and his originality of thought is also beyond human comprehension: “Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) / With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim; / He fathers-forth” (Lines 8-10). Hopkins uses the limitations of the natural world to emphasize God’s lack of limitation. The Creator, despite being constant himself, created humans, animals, and nature itself—all things that are naturally variable and imperfect. Hopkins establishes through examples of natural variation that God is constant, unchangeable, and so original of thought that his creation is beyond human comprehension. The second effect of Hopkins’s juxtaposition is to remind the reader that God’s role in human life is constant. Every minute detail and stroke of uniqueness in the natural world is dictated by the ever-present God. Despite being so far removed from the natural world that His very nature is unknown and unimaginable to humankind, God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent in human life.

Praising God: Creator and Creation

God’s constancy highlights one of the key ideals of Christianity, which is God’s immutability and accessibility to humans through prayer and devotion. Hopkins’s primary cause in writing “Pied Beauty” is to call the reader (and himself) to praise the Creator of all things. It was Hopkins’s personal belief that all things in life should be done in praise of God, and he illustrates that belief thoroughly in his poetic works. It could be said that the end to all of Hopkins’s poems is praise of and devotion to God. Hopkins begins and ends “Pied Beauty” with clear references to this. In the opening line, he states, “Glory be to God for dappled things” (Line 1), and he closes the poem with a simple directive: “Praise him" (Line 11). Hopkins’s decision to begin and end the poem with these commands is not accidental. He purposefully arranges the poem so that it is circular in focus. The poem fulfills the Christian belief that God is the beginning and the end. For Hopkins, nature is only a beautiful object whose strangeness is a testament to God’s perfection of thought. Hopkins describes natural imagery throughout the poem, but he also reminds the reader that nature is not an end in and of itself—the purpose of natural beauty, and beautiful poetry, is to praise God.