Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

SPRING

Nothing is so beautiful as SpringWhen weeds in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness, the racing lambs too have fair their fling
...
- Have, get, before it cloy
...

Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid's child, thy choice and worthy the winning
...
He is regarded by
different readers as the greatest Victorian poet of religion, of nature, and melancholy
...

Pertinent question/Pre-reading activities
If you had to create a perfect world, what would it look like? If you could remove one thing from this
world to make it better what would it be and why?
General discussion
The speaker declares that nothing is as beautiful as spring
...
In the first octave the speaker celebrates the beauty of
nature and the profound effect it has on man
...

The celebration of beauty is also closely linked with his contemplation of theology and the act of prayer
...
This indicates the fact that the
1

natural world provides a means of entering into an experience of God
...
It has fourteen lines and is divided into an octave and a
sestet
...

As is typical with an Italian sonnet, a change from one rhyme group to another signifies a change in
subject matter
...
It is at the Volta that the second idea is introduced
Hopkins typically uses the octave to present some account of personal or sensory experience and then
employs the sestet for philosophical reflection
...
The sestet is introduced with a question about the meaning of the beauty and then the speaker
moves on to a more direct interaction between himself and God in the form of a prayer and a wish to
shelter the beauty and innocence of childhood from sin
...
One of his mayor innovations was a new
metrical form, called "sprung rhythm"
...
As opposed to syllabic meters (such as the iambic), which count both stresses and syllables,
this form allows for greater freedom in the position and proportion of stresses
...
So instead of composing
all his lines in the ordinary iambic rhythm: da DUM da DUM da-DUM da DUM, he uses
irregular rhythms, e
...
line 9:
What is all this juice and all this joy?
(da DUM DUM DUM DUM da DUM DUM DUM)
By clustering those stressed syllables together, it loads the line with a sense of emotional intensity and
makes it harder to dismiss the question as vague or rhetorical
...
In the octave the tone is cheerful and celebratory
...

OCTAVE: •Description of the beauty of spring
•Cheerful and celebratory tone
Volta-: What is all this juice and all this joy? (Urgent)
SESTET: •Prayer to shelter the beauty and innocence of childhood from sin
•Anxious, regretful and pleading tone

2

ELEMENTS
Another unusual poetic resource Hopkins favoured is "consonant chiming", which involves elaborate use
of alliteration and internal rhyme (weeds-wheels; long-lovely-lush;, look-little-low)
...
The close linking of words through sound and rhythm complements
Hopkins's themes finding pattern and design everywhere
...
Deciding which word in a given
sentence is the verb, for example, can often involve significant interpretive work
...
This
leads to a surprising mix of neologisms and archaisms throughout his lines
...

The following words/phrases are significant in the poem:
Word
Spring

Juice
Strain

cloy
cloud
sour
Mayday
maid's child

Meaning within context
(denotation)
The season after winter; move
or jump suddenly and rapidly
upwards; originate or arise
from; metal coil
Energy; slang for power or
influence
A sound of music, sometimes
repeated (spring is like an echo
of the Garden of Eden)
Disgust or the sick feeling when
you have had too much
Become overcast, less clear or
transparent
Resentment or disappointment;
having an acidic taste
A country celebration of spring
Virgin's child

Connotations
Positive (new life, innocence)

Positive
Positive (spring is like an echo of
Garden of Eden)
Negative
Negative
Negative
Positive
Positive (reference to Christ)

Questions1
1
...

2
...

3
...


3

4
...
Is this simile effective?
Why do you say so?
5
...

6
...

7
...

8
...

9
...


Answers
1
...

re-birth and purity
2
...
It has fourteen lines and is divided into an octave and a sestet
...
The alliteration of the "w" or "l" sounds (weeds-wheels: long-lovely-lush: looklittle-low) creates an unusual thickness and resonance
...

4
...
This is an unusual simile as bird song is normally compared to sounds that are more lyrical
...

5
...
which richness"
...
This reinforces the beauty of spring and links
to the image of creation
...
What is the significance of the beauty of spring?
7
...

8
...

9
...

Questions 2

4

1
...
Write
down only the words next to the question number (1
...
(c) )in the ANSWER BOOK
This poem is an example of a (a)____ describing a (b)_____ responsible for (c)_____ and rebirth
...
Refer to line 2 (When weeds
...

ldentify the sound device in this line
...
ldentify a songbird mentioned in the poem
...
ldentify and explain the effect of the figure of speech used in line 3
...
Refer to line 4 (Through the echoing
...

A
...
Quote one word from the passage indicating that the flowers are young, lively and bright
...
Explain the tone displayed in lines 1 to 8
8
...
Give two words
...
Provide evidence that proves that the speaker is religious
...
ldentify and discuss a theme evident in this poem
...
(a) sonnet
(b) season
(c) regeneration
2
...
Thrush
4
...

5
...
Bloom
7
...

8
...
He makes reference to Eden, Christ and Sinning
10
...

The world was innocent and poor before being corrupted by mankind
...
Complete the following sentence
...
(a) -1
...
Refer to the structure of the poem
...

2
...
('thrush through the
...

(b) Explain this figure of speech
...
Is the underlined word in line 6 (brush') meant LITERALLY or FIGURATIVELY? Give a reason for your
answer
...
Give ONE word for the speaker's tone in lines 11-12
...
sour with sinning')
6
...
5 Explain why the speaker refers to the Garden of Eden in line 11
...
Discuss the theme of religion that is evident in this poem
...
Has the speaker convinced you that 'Nothing is as beautiful as Spring'
(line 1)? Substantiate your answer
...
Describe the structure of this poem fully
...
Using your OWN words, state how the speaker feels about Spring
3
...
Explain why the thrush's eggs are compared to 'heavens' in line 3
...
Refer to line 5 ('it strikes like
...

(a) ldentify the figure of speech in this line
...

6
...
worthy the winning')
...

(b) Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence
...
(b)) in the ANSWER BOOK
...
Workers' Day
...
Spring Day
...
Good Friday
...
Arbour Day
...
In your opinion, does the speaker succeed in convincing the reader
about the beauty of Spring? Discuss your view

---