Why Not Submit Poem And Creative Writing Pieces For A Change? Poems That Make You Cry Are Good Inspiration - Gerard Manley Hopkins Poem Review

POEMS THAT TOUCH THE HEART - BESTSELLING BOOK FOR POEMS THAT MAKE YOU CRY - FIVE STAR REVIEWS

Sad poems that make you cry are usually strangely free of sentimentality. They often portray sad simple truths or injustices with a simplicity that tears at the heartstrings. When the injustice is perpetrated against an innocent trusting creature, it somehow seems worse.

I think the saddest bit in this poem is the line which suggests the little caged skylark wringing its tiny wings hopelessly against the solid strength of the unfeeling prison bars. What do you think?

The Caged Skylark by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Literary analysis of the sad, beautiful 'The Caged Skylark' poem by Gerald Manley Hopkins should encompass more scope than the purely religious themes. Many of Gerald Manley Hopkins poems were imbued with a soaringly beautiful testament to the joy of the natural world.Of course, given Hopkins spiritual background in the Roman Catholic tradition, appreciation and praise for his creator were never far away. This literary analysis will focus on some personal observations in one area - the language used in the fusing of the two.

'As a dare-gale skylark scanted in a dull cage

Man's mounting spirit in his bone-house, mean house, dwells

That bird beyond the remembering his free fells;

This in drudgery, day-labouring-out life's age.'

The word 'dare-gale' evokes an image of a stalwart little bird. Despite its size, the little skylark dares to risk the mad March winds to get blustered and blown about - and all for the joy of singing its little heart out. It reminds us of the eternal fight of the weak against the strong, of good versus evil, of the eventual prevailing of vulnerable innocence represented by archetypes - such as Gandhi and the christians Son of God - against the cruelty of wrong-doers and tyrants. Poems that make you cry often present the helpless innocence of the weak, the young or the trusting.

'Scanted' suddenly tells us that the powers of the brave little skylark have been diminished and demeaned, made scanty or less. The end of that line tells us,monotonously, how ...' in a dull cage.' Gerard Manley Hopkins then goes on to liken this dullness to our own souls, capable of aspiring to so much greatness for the glory of God - yet trapped by the heavy, drab limitations of our cage-like bodies and their temptations and distractions. The word 'mean' echoes the scant emptiness of the preceding line. The words 'bone-house' have echoes of death, similar to another word for death place 'charnel-house.'

The next line about freedom, tells us of the joys of the freedom of free flight, whether of body or soul, on the 'fells' or mountainous moors of Northern England. Dragged down to earth again by the words 'drudgery' and 'day-labouring' we are reminded of unproductive working lives with little hope of personal advancement whether of spiritual or career development.

'Though aloft on turf or perch or poor low stage,Both sing sometmes the sweetest, sweetest spells,Yet both droop deadly sometimes in their cellsOr wring their barriers in bursts of fear or rage.'

Gerald Manley Hopkins then wonders at the ability of the poor caged skylark,or poor encumbered workman, to still sing sweetly when imprisoned, and he finishes the stanza with a poignant image of joyful living beings either giving up the ghost like the christians Son Of Man on the cross, or 'wringing' out the last of their precious strength on angrily flapping their fragile little wings against the prison ('cell') bars. This is a sorrowful image of futility and makes this a sad poem that makes you cry or feel angry.

'Why, hear him, hear him babble and drop down to his nest,But his own nest, wild nest, no prison'

The poet then accurately describes the strange flight of the skylark, which can drop like a stone from high in the sky to its nest in the heathery moors below. It then runs through the long grass unseen so as to hide the whereabouts of its young from predators. Although poor and simple, Hopkins tells us the nest still represents freedom - the bird is there of his own volition.

'Man's spirit will be flesh-bound when found at best,But uncumbered: meadow-down is not distressedFor a rainbow footing it nor he for his bones risen.'

The beautiful natural images of rainbows and 'meadow-down' are reminiscent of the soft dimple the little skylark's breast makes through nesting on the grass and suggests an image of the heart within its little breast and of love. 'Bones risen' finishes the falling rhythm of a skylark's descent with a reminder that Man should not be depressed but joyous when he thinks on the mystery of freedom from life's toil and mistakes when the risen person is released into a freer and higher realm.

If you love animals and nature, then The Caged Skylark is sure to be one of those poems that make you cry!

THEMES IN THE CAGED SKYLARK BY GERALD MANLEY HOPKINS include Resurrection,Imprisonment, Freedom,Christianity,Death,Work Poverty,Creation,Flight. Inspired? Think you can write a sad poem, or a poem about man's inhumanity to animals? A search will often bring up lots of paid writing sites where you can submit poem,fiction or review pieces.

Or just search for more sad poems that make you cry!

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