single line. Both poems usealliteration. Both poets acknowledge life's sorrows: Browning mentions "my old griefs" and "tears," while Hopkins refers to parts of human existence that are "seared," "bleared," and "smeared." Yet both writers exude a tone of inner joy: Browning from the love that delights her, and Hopkins from the appreciation of God's creation.

Despite these multiple similarities, the poems are quite different. The rhythm is the most obvious variant. Barrett Browning keeps a relatively consistent iambic cadence (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one in each metrical foot), but Hopkins veers dramatically from the prescribed sonnet rhythm and uses instead the rhythms of natural speech. Thus we find two iambs followed by two anapests (unstressed-unstressed-stressed) in the very first line. While Browning's alliteration is lyrical, with repeated l sounds, Hopkins repeats harder sounds like g, d, and b. Hopkins's abandonment of the prescribed iambic beat forces the reader to follow his rambling reflection, trying to decipher his meaning. Hopkins strikes a more philosophical tone, meditating on culture and on large themes of nature, God, and hope. Barrett Browning's poem is deeply personal, focusing on her own romantic relationship with Robert Browning, whom she married.

The poems, though similar in structure, are each their own unique works of art.

Most of the themes of both poems are different from one another, and this would be a stark contrast between the two. Where "Sonnet 43" focuses on love and mortality, "God's Grandeur" examines the cost of the Industrial Revolution on the natural world. However, it is worth noting that the two can also be seen as love poems. Browning's is a poem directed at her lover and Hopkins' poem is directed at God (he was a priest after all).

Although both poems were written within a generation of one another, the changes that have happened in technology have made their worlds far different. For example, "Sonnet 43" was written in 1850 and "God's Grandeur" was written in 1877 just as the Industrial Revolution was beginning to really gather steam (pun intended!). Browning's more traditional rhyme scheme makes sense in 1850, whereas Hopkins' use of a more modern and free rhythm may have been more successful in the timeframe he wrote it rather than in Browning's.

"Sonnet 43" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

• This sonnet is a traditional sonnet, meaning it is 14 lines long and written in iambic pentameter. The poem alternates between stressed and non-stressed syllables.
• It follows the form of an Italian sonnet.
• The poem's rhythm is very traditional and familiar.
• She poses a question in the first line and answers it over the course of the poem.
• She utilizes repetition in her wording: "I love thee" (repeated eight times)
• Virtually no imagery is present in the poem.

"God's Grandeur" by Gerard Manley Hopkins

• This sonnet does not follow iambic pentameter but also contains 14 lines. It is written in what is called "Sprung Rhythm." Stressed and non-stressed syllables are often intermingled.
• This poem also follows the form of an Italian sonnet.
• The poem's rhythm is new, unexpected, and unfamiliar.
• He poses a question over the course of a full octave (eight lines).
• He utilizes alliterative wording.
• Hopkins' poem includes plenty of imagery:

"And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil"