Student Question
Can you explain the first four lines of "The Windhover" according to Hopkins' sprung rhythm theory?
Quick answer:
In the first four lines of Gerard Manley Hopkins's "The Windhover" and elsewhere in the poem, Hopkins uses sprung rhythm to represent the flight of the bird. Sprung rhythm involves alliteration, irregular stress, and the sounds of ordinary speech to create a bouncy, lilting effect that is particularly appropriate to the image of a bird in flight.
If we apply sprung rhythm to the first four lines of the poem, we can see how it works in giving us a very distinct impression of the windhover—or kestrel—in flight. Let us begin at the beginning with the first line:
I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
Hopkins' use of alliteration has been highlighted in bold to give you an idea of how it is used to create irregular stress. This, in turn, gives the first line a bouncy rhythm that perfectly captures the up and down motion of the kestrel as it hovers high in the air.
If you've ever seen a kestrel you'll know that it hovers in the air while eyeing up its prey before suddenly swooping down to attack. Hopkins' use of sprung rhythm effectively conveys the bird's undulating movement as it hangs in the sky.
dom of daylight's d
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dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
There's more alliteration in the second line, this time revolving around the letter d. Here, the emphasis is not so much on the bird's movement as its appearance. The speaker regards the windhover as a majestic bird. Hence this description of him as "daylight's dauphin." The Dauphin was the name given to the King of France's eldest son, so there's clearly something very special, almost princely, about the windhover's appearance as it "rides" in the air in the morning.
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
Alliteration is less in evidence in the third line, but it has much the same effect, facilitating the use of sprung rhythm to convey a certain image. In this case it's the image of the rolling ground beneath the hovering kestrel that's being conveyed, giving us a picture of the landscape against which the windhover's majestic appearance is being observed.
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
All the elements of sprung rhythm are here: alliteration, irregular stress, and the sounds of ordinary speech. They are used to convey the speaker's sense of wonder at how this remarkable bird beats back a strong gust of wind to show his prowess in flight. Had Hopkins used regular meter in this line, it's doubtful if he could've achieved quite the same effect. But sprung rhythm allows him to express his profound sense of wonder at one of God's creatures.
References
Explain the 5th to 8th lines of "The Windhover" using Hopkins' sprung rhythm theory.
Hopkins's "spring rythm" method was developed as an alternative to iambic pentameter. Hopkins wanted to avoid what he thought of as the "sing song" quality of the iamb and find a meter that was more in keeping with real speech. Hopkins relied on the spondee as the basis for this new metrical form: a spondee is two accented syllables together.
In the lines of "Windhover" you mention you can see this emphasis on the stressed syllable (stressed syllables in bold).
In his ecs ta sy! then off, offforth on swing,
As a skate’sheelsweepssmooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and glid ing
Re buffed the big wind. My heart in hid ing
Stirred for a bird,—the a chieve of, the mas ter y of the thing!
You can easily see how prominent the stressed syllables are, and when you read this aloud, all the stresses give the language a kind of "rocky" feel. It's difficult to say out loud, but the sound of the poem is meant to evoke the image the words represent—seeing a falcon, wings beating against the wind, then veering off and gliding effortlessly with the wind.
The poet's emotional response to the bird's "mastery" is also contained in this stress-heavy language, especially in the surprising rhyme "stirred for a bird." This is surprising because of its directness, compared to the rest of the poem, and because the rhyme serves as a kind of emphasis, a way of underlining an emotional fact.