Carrion Comfort Analysis

As we mentioned over in the "In a Nutshell" section, "Carrion Comfort" is one of a group of Hopkins' poems known collectively as the "terrible sonnets." Given that, it would be pretty weird if this...

"Why me?" Who hasn't gazed up at the heavens and asked that question in a fit of despair? Whether it's facing down a pop quiz or getting dumped the night before prom, it can feel sometimes that the...

This poem features a giant lion's paw pressing down on someone like a huge boulder, so we'd forgive you if you thought the setting was a Voltron cartoon. With that imaginative bit of personificatio...

Here's a game you can play at home, Shmoopers. Take three tennis balls, your favorite sneakers, an air raid siren, and a handful of rocks and toss them into a dryer. Turn it on full speed and have...

Over in the stanza-by-stanza summaries, we point out how the phrase "carrion comfort" (1) acts like a kind of hook, a jarring juxtaposition that, right off the bat, grabs us readers by our jean jac...

The best way to spot a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem is to lend it an ear. When you do, you'll hear a densely-packed soundscape, filled with rhythmic variations and sonic effects. Just take a listen t...

Hopkins is a poet who leads you down a winding road of twisting syntax, but his subject matter is far more straightforward. Once you've sorted out how he's saying what he's saying, what he's actual...

After abandoning poetry in pursuit of the priesthood, Hopkins was inspired to write again after reading about a German shipwreck, in which five nuns were drowned. (Source) Hopkins described his bou...

We do get some wrestling going on in this poem, but it's the spiritual kind—nothing sexy to see here, folks.

1 Peter 5:8 (6)