Analysis of Easter Communion

Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844 (Stratford, London) – 1889 (Dublin)



Pure fasted faces draw unto this feast:
God comes all sweetness to your Lenten lips.
You striped in secret with breath-taking whips,
Those crooked rough-scored chequers may be pieced
To crosses meant for Jesu's; you whom the East
With draught of thin and pursuant cold so nips
Breathe Easter now; you serged fellowships,
You vigil-keepers with low flames decreased,

God shall o'er-brim the measures you have spent
With oil of gladness, for sackcloth and frieze
And the ever-fretting shirt of punishment
Give myrrhy-threaded golden folds of ease.
Your scarce-sheathed bones are weary of being bent:
Lo, God shall strengthen all the feeble knees.


Scheme ABBAABBA CDXDCD
Poetic Form
Metre 1101011011 111101111 1101011101 110111111 1101111101 11110010111 11011110 1101011101 11101010111 11111101 00101011100 111010111 11111101101 1111010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 645
Words 105
Sentences 4
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 261
Words per stanza (avg) 52
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 28, 2023

32 sec read
269

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Reverend Father Gerard Manley Hopkins, S. more…

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