Spring

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring!

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –         
   When 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.         

What is all this juice and all this joy?         
   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,         
   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,         
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,         
   Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

“Nothing is so beautiful as Spring” - this fabulous opening line beautifully sums up the first stanza of Hopkins’ poem, as well as being a truth, universally acknowledged (to quote Jane Austin). Hopkins then squeezes out of relatively few words, a wondrous description of Spring, employing his unique sprung rhythm and lively imagery. It exudes all the joy and life it describes.

The second stanza is much more reflective, started by asking the reader what this picture of Spring reminds them of. Hopkins suggests that Spring is a remnant of the purity and beauty of the garden of Eden before the sinful fall of man. This leads to an urging of the reader to find, in the wonder and beauty of Spring, a reminder of the purity of creation and Christ. He also urges the reader to do so before such purity or innocence is soured or clouded by sin, before it stops them from choosing Christ - the only choice worth winning.

As this poem has two distinct halves, so does the piano piece. The first half uses a rising theme:

(a retrograde (reverse) of the falling leaf motif from the Spring And Fall piano piece below)

and draws on the imagery of a thrush from the first stanza. It is written as a celebration of Spring.

The second half has a theme of purity and innocence which then sours. It uses a motor rhythm and I used the imagery of young children dancing from the poem for this theme.

I have ended on a hopeful note with a return to the opening Spring theme interleaved with the innocence theme. In doing so, like Hopkins, I urge the listener to choose Christ in response to the beauty of Spring.

Naomi Brown

(Contemplative Cadences)