Nothing is so beautiful as spring - 

       When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush; 

       Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and thrush

Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring

The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;

       The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush

       The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush

With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
 

What is all this juice and all this joy?

       A strain of the earth's sweet being in the beginning

In Eden garden. - Have, get, before it cloy,

       Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,

Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,

       Most, O maid's child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

"Spring" is a seasonal poem very fitting for this time of year. Like many of Hopkins' poems, it is an Italian sonnet with a clear thought division between the octet and the sestet. It includes two themes dear to Hopkins: the beauty of nature, and the place of God and humankind in the scheme of things. The poem was written in 1877 at St. Beune's College in Wales, where Hopkins studied theology for the three years prior to his ordination as a Jesuit priest that same year.

The octet is a remarkable description of the arrival of spring. The first line is a very simple statement: "Nothing is so beautiful as spring". The poem then goes on to describe in lavish detail the woods, the thrush's eggs and song, the peartrees, the blue sky and the frolicking lambs. These objects of nature tumble out in the lines of the octet; the alliteration in almost every line makes them vivid and intense. This is nature in its unspoiled abundance; there is no suggestion of humankind or of a fallen world here. 

Signs of that fallen world come early in the sestet when we are reminded that "all this juice and joy" were typical of the world "In Eden garden". From this point on the theme becomes distinctly Christian with its awareness not only of beauty but also of corruption and redemption. With this awareness of a fallen world Hopkins turns to Christ as the Savior of the world, both natural and human.

Hence, the last three and a half lines are the most intense in the whole poem as the author prays to Christ to save this beautiful world "before it cloy...and cloud...and sour with sinning". He is acutely aware of the danger of corruption even in the young, or, as he calls them, "Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy". He emphasizes the preciousness of the young when he calls them "Most...thy [Christ's] choice and worthy the winning". And he compares them to Christ's and Mary's innocence when he addresses Christ as "maid's child".

As so often in Hopkins, the poem ends on a Christian note. After the natural beauty of the first part of the poem, he brings us to a world that is too often spoiled. He sees Christ as the only hope of preserving the goodness of this world. At this point the writing becomes extremely condensed and agitated as the words and alliterations accumulate with more intensity. But the poem ends on a calmer note reminiscent of the tranquility and simplicity of its first line. Having implored Christ to claim and protect the young, the poet reminds us that the world redeemed by Christ can be as beautiful as the world before the fall of Adam.

The mood of the poem has come full circle with the assurance that this new world can be compared to springtime. Thus the poem "Spring" celebrates both the beauty of the season and the feast of Easter which accompanies it.

Jim Noonan, 

Journal Regional Editor
Corpus-NCR