Nutting and Binsey Poplars AO3

Nutting and Binsey Poplars Making connections and considering alternative interpretations

Nutting – authorial intention? • Present the moral development of the speaker? • Present conflict between primitive impulse and civilised moral conduct? • A moral tale, a parable, denouncing rapacity of human kind? A narrative poem. • Is it a warning against sexual assault? ra·pa·cious (r-pshs)adj. 1. Taking by force; plundering. 2. Greedy; ravenous. See Synonyms at voracious. 3. [From Latin rapx, rapc-, from rapere, to seize; see rep- in Indo-European roots.]

• ‘he learns like any young hero that treasure is not as easily taken as he had believed’

Binsey Poplars – authorial intention? •

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Eco poetry – protest against the destruction of man against nature. Ascribe blame? The incompetence of man – incapable of protecting and nurturing our natural environment. Present the fragility of nature and the irreversibility of destruction. Philosophise?

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‘a dirge for a landscape’

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‘The poem likens the line of trees to a rank of soldiers. The military image implies that the industrial development of the countryside equals a kind of (too often unrecognized) warfare. The natural curves and winding of the river bank contrast with the rigid linearity of man-made arrangements of objects, a rigidity implied by the soldiers marching in formation. Hopkins points out how the narrow-minded priorities of an age bent on standardization and regularity contributes to an obliteration of beauty.’

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Hopkins puts this blindness in a biblical context with his echoes of Jesus’ phrase at his own crucifixion: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

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‘the patterning of the natural world is always a reflection of God and a mode of access to God; thus this devastation has implications for our ability to be religious people and to be in touch with the divine presence.

Who is the implied reader/ speaker of each poem? • Dearest Maiden • O if we but knew what we do Which is more effective in striking a note of care and protest?

How does each poem end? Binsey Poplars: Sweet especial rural scene. Is this tone nostalgic? Reminiscent? Regretful? Angry? Is the warning strong enough for you? Nutting: Move along these shades/ In gentleness of heart; with gentle hand/ Touch – for there is a spirit in the woods Is this a tone of prohibition? Of condemnation? Of invitation? Of remorse? Is the warning strong enough for you? ‘touch’ that word like a delicate finger-tip restores the poem’s human balance, bringing us out of shame and degradation and back to the initial reverence and ‘wise restraint; that had been practised without understanding. (The Guardian)

What is similar or different about the destruction wreaked? Nutting ‘A nutting crook in hand’ Clothes ‘more ragged than need was’ ‘Eyed the banquet / tempting clusters’ ‘Up I rose / and dragged to earth both branch and bough’# ‘Merciless ravage’ ‘Deformed and sullied’ ‘Rich beyond the wealth of kings’

Binsey Poplars ‘All felled’ ‘Not spared, not one’ ‘delve/ or hew’ ‘hack and rack’ ‘Even where we mean/ to mend her we end her’

How is destruction juxtaposed with innocence and beauty in both poems? Binsey Poplars • ‘Airy cages quelled’ • Fresh • Growing green • Her being so slender Nutting • Pathless rocks, through beds of matted fern, and tangled thickets • One dear nook / unvisited • A virgin scene • Fleeced with moss/ shady trees/ among the flowers What is similar? What is different? Which is more effective to show the care of the poet towards the landscape?

Vocabulary Violation Intrusion Rapacity Ecological outlook Sexual imagery Aggressive Fragility Idealised Untamed Wild Peaceful Rural Pantheistic feeling Gentle Mournful lament

Unthreatening Virginal Humanity Nostalgic Reminiscing Regretful Contrite Gratification Abundance Defloration Shame Degradation Enchantment Magical sacred