Spring And Fall: To A Young Child Poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins

The poem has 15 lines. Hopkins could have rendered it in traditional sonnet form but chose not to, allowing content to dictate form. This is typical of this most original of poets. Why is Spring and Fall so powerful, so moving? Each of us will answer the question in our own way. Margaret (who could be fictional) guesses that ‘goldengrove unleaving’ stands for the human condition. We are of nature, and our years fall away like leaves until we die. With age we become less honest; less emotionally open even should ‘worlds of wanwood leafmeal life.’ An equivalent to this phrase is the emotional overkill of TV news, with its never-ending concentration on pain and suffering. We become hardened to this with time, and our giving to charities is likewise affected. Not so with Margaret and the young, who are inconsolable (see my comment on another fine Hopkins poem, Felix Randall.) Their living (and lived) concern remains an inspiration to us all.

Despite GMH regarding this poem as disposable, I regard it as his best. It's a profound comment on getting older. I return to this poem time and time again. He is on a par with R.S. Thomas and Shakespeare on this topic.

I rate this poem highly. There is the sadness of the child, autumn, and it compares the falling leaves to man's mortality. The line length and rhyming couplets are just right.

By and by with the muse of nature. Nice work.

One of the best poems I have read for some time. Both Frank Avon and Andrew Hoellering made some great points in their comments. Frank, I can't even imagine how I would choose my ten favorite poems if all others had to be destroyed, so I won't even think about it!

It's a sad state of affairs when a mindless synthesizer can do a better job of delivering GMH's meaning than 99% of professional poetry reciters, voice actors, etc. And no, it's horrific to have a mindless machine read poetry - there's something deeply disturbing about the whole concept. It's just a tiny bit *less* dystopian than a bad human recitation.

Well expressed thoughts and feelings. A beautiful creation.........................

I find this poem in some way difficult but brilliant and could be a perfect text for a Procol Harum song. You can read this eleven times through and experience something totally different

I find this poem in some way difficult but brilliant and could be a perfect text for a Procol Harum song. You can read this eleven times through and experience something totally different.

I find this poem in some way difficult but brilliant and could be a perfect text for a Procol Harum song. You can read this eleven times through and experience sonthing totally different.