Pied Beauty

In “Pied Beauty,” Hopkins focuses on two key motifs that reflect the themes of the work. The poem’s motifs can be broken down by simply digesting the title of the piece: “Pied Beauty.” The word “pied” refers to objects that possess two or more colors; this can occur in a variety of ways in the natural world, and Hopkins provides several examples of animals and landscapes that are “pied,” such as: “skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow” (Line 2) and “rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim” (Line 3). In these examples, Hopkins describes a sky that is brindled, like a cow and spotted trout. He goes on to describe more instances of natural variation: A “[l]andscape plotted and pieced” (Line 5) is reminiscent of a quilt made of patches, and people or things that are “freckled” (Line 8) possess a sense of uniqueness.