Spring and Fall: To a Young Child

“Spring and Fall” is a rhymed, dramatic lyric poem consisting of one stanza and 15 lines, one line more than the 14-line sonnet. It was written in 1880 by Gerard Manley Hopkins and it was published in 1918. The tone of the poem is meditative and its themes include innocence, knowledge, and mortality. Though not divided in stanzas, the poem is written as a series of rhyming couplets, except for three rhyming lines in the middle. Thus, the rhyme scheme of the poem is AABBCCDDDEEFFGG. Meant to be read aloud, the musical poem is filled with alliteration, assonance, and stresses that follow the conventions of spoken speech and children’s nursery rhymes. The poem falls under the umbrella of literature of the Victorian age, which roughly corresponds to 1837-1901, though by no means is this time period unanimous. However, as is typical of the work of the priest-poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, the poem uses many innovations in rhyme, syntax, and word-coinage which are unique to the standards of the Victorian age. One of the few poems by Hopkins that is not explicitly scriptural, the poem nevertheless refers to Biblical themes and allusions. “Spring and Fall” is also distinguished in Hopkins’s canon because of its melancholy tone and theme. Hopkins’s poems tend to celebrate God’s glory as seen in the perfection of nature.

Poet Biography

Though now regarded as one of the greatest poets of the Victorian era and a pathbreaking innovator of English poetry, Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 –1889) came by his fame posthumously. A poet and a Jesuit priest, Hopkins is known for his trademark innovations in prosody (the rhythm and stress of poetry), word-coinage, and vivid, sensual imagery. His combination of intense, devotional poetry with an unusual poetic style meant he had hardly any takers in his time. Hopkins’s work was published in 1918, decades after his death, owing to the effort of his friend and fellow poet Robert Bridges. Soon after its publication in 1918, Hopkins’s poetry began to be regarded by modernist poets and critics as highly original. The interest of poets like T.S. Eliot and Stephen Spender, among others, sealed Hopkins’s reputation as a literary genius by the middle of the 20th century.

The eldest of the nine children of Catherine and Manley Hopkins of Stratford, Essex, Hopkins showed an early talent for both sketching and writing. His family was accomplished and artistic, with his father Manley being both a poet and the founder of an insurance firm. Hopkins went on to study at Balliol College, Oxford University, where he befriended Bridges. At Oxford, Hopkins continued to write and discovered a devout aspect of himself that lead him to turn towards Roman Catholicism. At the time, several professors and scholars of Oxford had converted to Catholicism, sparking the influential “Oxford Movement” that called for the revival of Catholic elements within the Anglican Church of England. In 1866, Hopkins formally converted to Catholicism, which estranged him from his Anglican protestant family.

Following his conversion, Hopkins became increasingly pious, ultimately deciding to forego poetry since it distracted him from his religious studies. In 1868, he burned all his poems, including “The Habit of Perfection” (1866). Thankfully, drafts survived. For the next seven years, Hopkins wrote no poetry, training instead to become a Jesuit priest. Over time, Hopkins realized that poetry and religion need not be opposed and resumed writing his “verses,” as he called them, in 1875. During his training as a priest he studied religion, philosophy, and the classics. He also developed a great interest in the Welsh language, which he felt best preserved the natural rhythms and stresses of human speech. In 1875, he wrote the important long religious poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland" based on a real shipwreck in which five nuns fleeing Germany’s draconian anti-Catholic laws also perished.

Hopkins’s career as a minister took him to different parishes, including Manchester and Liverpool. These professional migrations cost him personally, since he disliked crowded, urban spaces; but as a cleric he needed to immerse himself in the business of his parish. The pulls between a private, melancholy nature and a public persona caused him great anguish and often led to bouts of depression. Throughout his career as a cleric, Hopkins continued to write his verses and music, draw and sketch, and study languages and philosophy. He also kept a prolific and fascinating journal throughout his adult life, recounting his relationship with art, aesthetics, and religion. By 1884, Hopkins was appointed a professor of Greek and Latin at University College, Dublin. However, he disliked living in Ireland, and the isolation from his literary friends plunged him – already prone to melancholy – into a deep despair. His poems sometimes mirror his depression but are largely uplifting and filled with a deep, breathtaking wonder at the divinity inherent in nature. Hopkins’s health began to suffer and in 1889 he contracted typhoid, for which there was no vaccine or effective antibiotic at the time. Hopkins died of the bacterial infection soon after at age 44 and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

Poem Text

Hopkins, Gerard Manley. “Spring and Fall: To a Young Child.” 1880. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

The poem is presented as a speaker addressing a child called Margaret. From the speaker’s calm, soothing manner, it is clear they are a grown-up trying to comfort someone much younger. They could be a teacher or a mentor, perhaps a priest, like the poet himself. The poem seems to be set in a grove of trees during late fall, when trees lose their leaves. The speaker asks Margaret if she is sad that the stand of trees is losing its golden leaves – leaves of certain deciduous trees in the Northern hemisphere change color to gold, orange, and red before they fall. The speaker is initially surprised that the young girl has the capacity to grieve for things. Since she does not know what death is yet, the speaker cannot understand how she knows the leaves are gone forever for this season. At the same time, the speaker marvels at the freshness and purity of the child’s grief. Margaret is upset that the leaves have fallen, which shows she is still one with nature. She perceives the loss of the leaves as a personal grief. The speaker’s wonder at Margaret’s grief is tinged with sadness: as Margaret grows into an adult, she will become inured to both nature as well as small losses. She will become jaded, like any adult. Even though she may not weep for shedding leaves, a grown-up Margaret will mourn other things. While Margaret mourns the trees, the speaker mourns her fleeting childhood.

The speaker now returns to the question of why Margaret grieves the lost leaves. The sorrow she feels now is one she will feel often in life, though for different things. It is a sorrow which all human beings will eventually know, “no matter, child, the name” (Line 10). Margaret may not be able to articulate, express, or even understand this sorrow, but it is encoded in her humanity. In the last two lines, the speaker reveals the source of Margaret’s sorrow. It is the intimation of her own mortality, the awareness that Margaret herself will change and one day be lost, like the leaves. The fall of the leaves introduces Margaret to the idea that the world is not permanent, and all living things including her, will one day be lost.