Sonnet 43 Group

Question:


ohnoashleyyy
Student
High School - 12th Grade

Compare and Contrast the structure and poetic elements of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43 and Gerard Manley Hopkins "God Grandeur"

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Posted by ohnoashleyyy on Tuesday October 27, 2009 at 10:42 PM and tagged with elizabeth barrett browning, gerard manley hopkins, god grandeur, literature, poetic elements, sonnet 43.

Answers:

  1. ban-chan
    ban-chan Student
    High School - 12th Grade

                The poem "God's Grandeur" can be considered as a traditional sonnet. It rhymes abab abab cdc dcd and has a turn or alteration in subject, after the first eight lines. The poem has ten syllables per line, like a traditional iambic pentameter. The rhythm is odd and does not fall where they should for iambic pentameter. Hopkins calls his unusual meter sprung rhythm.

                Hopkins uses odd effects to give the poem unusual pace. For example, in line 4, the first word, “Crushed”, gives an unusual force. In line 5, he repeats the words “have trod” three times, emphasizing the sense of weary tromping. Hopkins uses the sound of words to add to and reveal his meaning.

                Barrett Browning tended to downplay, or distract attention from, her use of sonnet form. She used traditional Petrarchan rhyme scheme, so there is no final couplet. Sonnet 43 ends its eight line with a period, but the following line continues to list the ways Barrett Browning loves Robert. She frequently uses off or slant rhymes. In Sonnet 43, she rhymes “faith” with breath”

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    Posted by ban-chan on Monday November 2, 2009 at 1:41 PM