"World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings...."See in text(Text of the Poem)
The final couplet in the sestet features a moving indirect metaphor that compares God’s spirit in the world to a bird sitting on a nest to protect her eggs or her young. The bird’s “warm breast” and “bright wings” have positive connotations suggesting life and beauty. The metaphor reaffirms the poem’s theme of God’s being an abiding presence in the world. The interjection “ah!” echoes the expression of awe and gratitude in the previous line, while “bright” recalls the image of light suggested in the simile in the poem’s second line.
"And though the last lights off the black West went..."See in text(Text of the Poem)
The two lines are united through alliteration: “last lights,” “West went,” and “brown brink.” They are also united through contrasting images. The “last lights” of sunset in the west contrast with the gathering light of dawn as the sun rises in the east; the “black” of night contrasts with the “brown brink” of light in the east as the sun begin to rise and night fades. Following the description of dying light in the “black West,” the interjection “Oh” in “Oh, morning” suggests feelings of awe and gratitude. The sun’s setting and then rising each day is one of the “dearest … deep down things” in nature as the world becomes fresh and new each morning.
"And for all this, nature is never spent..."See in text(Text of the Poem)
The poem is an example of a Petrarchan sonnet with an octave of 8 lines followed by a 6-line sestet. This line marks the beginning of the sestet. The abbaabba rhyme scheme of the octave now changes to the sestet’s cdcdcd rhyme scheme. The first line of the sestet also changes the focus and tone of the poem once again as Hopkins moves from a meditation of the world defiled by modern humanity to a contemplation of the natural world, created by God and infused with his presence, that always endures.
"Why do men then now not reck his rod?..."See in text(Text of the Poem)
The phrase “reck his rod” incorporates both archaic diction and figurative language. “Reck” is an archaic word meaning to heed or to show concern for. “Rod” suggests a scepter and has connotations of majesty and supreme power. The first three lines in the poem lead directly to this question in the fourth line that marks a change of tone in the text; after glorifying God, Hopkins turns to humankind’s lack of reverence for God’s majestic presence in the world. The inclusion of the word “now” creates a sense of immediacy in the poem, placing it in the context of Hopkins’s own era when the Industrial Revolution was upending life in Britain and destroying the country’s rural landscape.
"like the ooze of oil
Crushed..."See in text(Text of the Poem)
In the context of Hopkins writing as a priest, the simile, “like the ooze of oil / Crushed,” may be interpreted as an allusion to holy oil used in the Catholic church in anointing the bodies of the sick and in administering the sacraments of confirmation, baptism, and holy orders. Olive oil, which has been blessed, is placed by a priest on the forehead and hands of the anointed. The enjambment in the first of the two lines emphasizes the word “Crushed,” drawing attention to the act of anointment, a most holy practice in the church.
