37 pages • 1 hour read
The Windhover
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Literary Devices
Form and Meter
“The Windhover” closely follows the rules of the Petrarchan sonnet. It is divided into an octet and sestet with a set rhyme scheme, though the use of repeated words modifies this rhyme scheme a bit. Hopkins also uses enjambment—breaking a line in the middle of a sentence or phrase—for metrical and rhetorical effect, most glaringly with the enjambment of “kingdom” to “king / dom,” thus keeping the rhyme and emphasizing the “king” in “kingdom.”
The real innovation in this poem’s form, though, is the meter. Hopkins invented a meter called “sprung rhythm.” The point of this metrical system is to mimic natural speech in a way that feels more natural and traditional than iambic pentameter, which can be rigid and overly sing-song. Sprung rhythm also gives the poet more control over line length because instead of counting syllables the writer counts only stressed syllables. Each line should have equal numbers of stresses but can have however many unstressed syllables the poet wants. This gives each line its own unique length and character while still keeping the pattern of stresses consistent.
Sprung rhythm represents a bridge between formal poetry and free verse. While sprung rhythm doesn’t have the same rigidity of formal meter, it also doesn’t have the absolute freedom of free verse. Instead of picking one side of the formal/free verse binary, sprung rhythm merges elements of both approaches to create a more natural yet still songlike rhythm.
A good way to see and hear this sprung rhythm is to compare the first two lines of the poem. While the first line is written in traditional iambic pentamer, the second line is sprung, meaning it has the same number of stresses (five), but there are far more syllables (16). It’s incredibly difficult to write corresponding lines with such vastly different syllabic counts while still maintaining rhythm and cohesion. This is why sprung rhythm is not as popular as traditional meter—it’s just really difficult to master.
Alliteration
The poem makes heavy, consistent use of alliteration, which is the repetition of the beginning sounds of words. Each line seems to introduce a new letter or sound to repeat, and Hopkins does not try to hide these patterns; instead, they are front and center. This is an example of form matching content. The alliteration at the beginning of the poem is meant to mimic the sound of the bird. The “m” sounds hum like the wind beneath the bird, and the repetition of the “ing” for the rhymes mirrors the bird’s static hovering in the face of chaos.
Not only does the alliteration and repetition mirror the content, but these techniques also amplify the songlike quality and the natural rhythm of the poem. They give the poem a feeling of slickness and cohesion. A line like “High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing” (Line 4), for example, contains a whimsical sort of quasi-iambic rise. The line’s internal rhyming and alliteration give it a sense of cohesion and energy, again matching the description of the bird. Like the bird, the poem’s structure has energy and renewal.
Juxtaposition
The juxtaposition, or placing of two dissimilar things together, of the bird and the fire can be startling, and because there is no explanation of the connection between the two the reader is left to make a connection themselves. Juxtapositions like this are often done to force the reader to associate their own feelings with the two images, thus filling the gap between them and establishing a connection between the seemingly unrelated images. There is more power in this approach to making meaning than if a poet simply tells the reader how the two unrelated things connect. In a way, it’s useful to think of juxtaposition as a more abstract metaphor. The two images of a metaphor speak to one another, with their contrast allowing the reader to establish meaning. Juxtaposition is no different, except now there are no intention verbs like “is” to draw your attention to the comparison; instead, the two images are simply presented side by side for the reader to interpret and connect. Once the reader makes the connection, the effect on the reader is stronger than a simple metaphor because juxtaposition gives the reader the chance to discover a connection through free association and without any intrusion from the author. Basically, it’s a way of putting the power of interpretation solely on the reader, thus giving readers autonomy and power.
Unlock all 37 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Related Titles
By Gerard Manley Hopkins
