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The windhover
Book by Hopkins, Gerard Manley
146 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
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44 people want to read
About the author
Gerard Manley Hopkins
225 books240 followersGerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose 20th-century fame established him posthumously among the leading Victorian poets. His experimental explorations in prosody (especially sprung rhythm) and his use of imagery established him as a daring innovator in a period of largely traditional verse.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 6, 2022
Decent little poem that Chris Packham quoted on the BBC’s “The Walk That Made Me.” A short ode to Jesus it of course lacks the visceral insight and the in-depth studious accounting of The Peregrine.
December 14, 2017
Also available at poetrysoup.com
March 24, 2025
2 Stars ⭐️ Me and Hopkins… don’t vibe. Read for British Literature.
November 18, 2025
... girl... I guess...
November 21, 2025
"Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here Buckle!"
January 25, 2008
Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Windhover (John Pick, editor) (Merrill, 1968)
Pick collects what he considers the best of the various schools of scholarship on Hopkins' most-written-about sonnet and presents it in textbook fashion, complete with ideas for possible papers at the end of the book. While, obviously, such a tome is going to get a tad dry after a while, this ends up being a fascinating account of how a couple of well-placed double-entendres in a poem can spark firestorms of criticism among different schools of thought. Of particular interest is a series of letters published in a London newspaper in the mid-fifties in which three critics snipe at one another's interpretations of the poem. It's beautiful stuff. One wonders if literary critics are ever so on fire about anything else.
In the end, the book does what it's supposed to do; it acquaints its readers with the differing schools of thought on Hopkins' poem, and in doing so may illuminate the reader to ideas within the poem he had not previously seen. A good resource for Hopkins scholars. ***
Pick collects what he considers the best of the various schools of scholarship on Hopkins' most-written-about sonnet and presents it in textbook fashion, complete with ideas for possible papers at the end of the book. While, obviously, such a tome is going to get a tad dry after a while, this ends up being a fascinating account of how a couple of well-placed double-entendres in a poem can spark firestorms of criticism among different schools of thought. Of particular interest is a series of letters published in a London newspaper in the mid-fifties in which three critics snipe at one another's interpretations of the poem. It's beautiful stuff. One wonders if literary critics are ever so on fire about anything else.
In the end, the book does what it's supposed to do; it acquaints its readers with the differing schools of thought on Hopkins' poem, and in doing so may illuminate the reader to ideas within the poem he had not previously seen. A good resource for Hopkins scholars. ***
March 6, 2014
Nation's Favourite Poems: features in a 1996 nationwide poll compilation.
From wiki - It was written on May 30, 1877, but not published until 1918, when it was included as part of the collection Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hopkins dedicated the poem "to Christ our Lord".
"Windhover" is another name for the Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). The name refers to the bird's ability to hover in midair while hunting prey. In the poem, the narrator admires the bird as it hovers in the air, suggesting that it controls the wind as a man may control a horse. The bird then suddenly swoops downwards and "[rebuffs] the big wind". The bird can be viewed as a metaphor for Christ or of divine epiphany.
Hopkins called "The Windhover" "the best thing [he] ever wrote". It commonly appears in anthologies and has lent itself to many interpretations.
From wiki - It was written on May 30, 1877, but not published until 1918, when it was included as part of the collection Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hopkins dedicated the poem "to Christ our Lord".
"Windhover" is another name for the Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). The name refers to the bird's ability to hover in midair while hunting prey. In the poem, the narrator admires the bird as it hovers in the air, suggesting that it controls the wind as a man may control a horse. The bird then suddenly swoops downwards and "[rebuffs] the big wind". The bird can be viewed as a metaphor for Christ or of divine epiphany.
Hopkins called "The Windhover" "the best thing [he] ever wrote". It commonly appears in anthologies and has lent itself to many interpretations.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 26, 2022
The Windhover
BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS
To Christ our Lord
I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.
BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS
To Christ our Lord
I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.
August 20, 2023
Quite enjoyed the use of language in this one it was very evocative
edit: this is quickly becoming one of my favourite poems, very poe dameron coded
edit: this is quickly becoming one of my favourite poems, very poe dameron coded
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews