Imagery in Pied Beauty

Once again, Hopkins sketches a vivid image—“fresh-firecoal”—before transforming it into metaphor. By the third word, the fresh firecoal has become an adjective to describe fallen chestnuts. This use of metaphor attunes us to the purpose of the poem: to reconsider beauty by viewing the world anew. Surprising, metaphorical relationships force us to encounter the world with fresh eyes.

Hopkins creates dense, deceptive layers of metaphor and imagery. As each image presents itself, it turns from literal image to metaphor: “Rose” transforms from a flower into the color of the “moles.” The “moles” take a similar fall from the literal, becoming the “stipple[s] upon trout that swim.” Hopkins uses these metaphors to show that all objects in nature carry the same divine charge.

Hopkins uses metaphor to introduce two important images at once. The skies are “of couple-colour as a brinded cow.” While the image of the skies is offered as the dappled thing, the image of the brinded cow is equally relevant. Through such use of metaphor, Hopkins shows us the interconnected nature of the world.