UNIVERSITY of DETROIT
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
UNIVERSITY of DETROIT EXCERPT from the GRADUATE BULLETIN, 1935 - 1937 PaBe Nine \, Use of Theses and Thesis MateT'ials. The University of Detroit . always encourages, and even urges, the use of theses, thesis materials, and term papers submitted to instructors or departments of the University in in partial fulfillment of the requirements for credit or degrees, Such use may be oral (before meetings or conventions) or through publication (period icals, monographs, or books.) However, as such theses, thesis materials, and term papers become the property of the University once they are sub mitted, -.- it is expected that the permission of the University be secured for such oral or printed use, and a suitable credit line arranged. This permis sion, and arrangement of credit line, should also be observed in the case of the publication of materials which the student intends to use later in partial fullfillment of the requirements for credit or degrees. Failure to observe such courtesy may be followed by the withdrawal of the credit or degree, Application for the use of materials and arrangements mentioned must be made with the Graduate Office of the University of Detroit. THE UNIVERSITY OF DEl'ROIT A STUDY OF THE PARALLELISM AND EVOLUTION IN THE IMAGERY OF GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH BY SISTER MARY NAZARIA MLODZIK, O. P . 8 DETROIT, MICHIGAN AUGUST, 1951 PREFACE The main purpose of this paper is to show how the imagery of Gerard ~l_ey Hopkins.' . ~ers e Ls drawn from the notes in his Journal and to s~udy t~e evolution to the fixed and definite forms of his imagery. Although Hopkins was a discriminating writer, even in recording his first impressions in a notebook, he entered ~re raw material than he actually used in writing poems. A passion for detail and analy~is which was to become a poetic character istic can be observed in studying the images and comparisons. "Hopkins used his Journal to fix images in the first heat of delighted perception,. and- it is instructive to see how the sense-impressions incorporated in the poem had been casually garnered over a period of from fourteen to eighteen years. "l Most of the studies on Hopkins deal with a critical analysis and interpretation of his poetry or technique. It should be of interest to every enthusiast of Hopkins to trace the origin, method, ~nd ~pplication of imagery which qualified his poetry. with.a depth, intensity, and richness in an unparalleled degree. In the artistry of Hopkins, poetic image evolved into more than a delightful sensory impression: it was an insight into the ultimate reality, 1. W. H. Gardner, Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Study of Poetic Idiosyncrasy in Relation to PoetIc TraditIon, p. Ib4. ii iii seeing the image in things from God's side. 2 1I The "Journal· and "Notes II from which, this study is drawn are taken from The Not e-Books and Papers of Gerard Manley Hopkins edited with notes and a preface by Humphrey House, published in full for the first time in 1937. Ex tracts had appeared previously ~n the Jesuit periodical Letters and Notices edited by Fat~er MacLeod, in 1906 and 1907, and in Gerard Manley Hopkins by Father Lahey, in 1930. W. H. Gardner's edition of Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins is used throughout. It remains to thank the authorities and friends, whose assistance and 'advi ce , g~nerously gi ven , were of in calculable value to the writer. I wish to thank the Rever end Bur ke O'Neill, S. J., and }~ . C. Carroll Hol l i s of t he University of Detroit, Mr. John Pick of Marquette University, and Sister Catherine Racconigi, O. P. 2. W. H. Gardner, Gerard 11anl ey Hopkins, p. 7. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE • • • • • •• • • • ••••• • •• ii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION · ·· · 1 II. INSCAPE AND INSTRESS · · · · 4 III. A COMPARISON OF THE IMAGES IN THE JOURNAL AND POETRY · · · · · · ·· · 17 Stars 19 Clouds · · · · ··· · · · · 22 Weather Elements· · · · · · ·· · ·· · · 27 The Sun ·· · ·· 31 Lightning • · · · · 36 The Moon · · 37 Rain ·· · ·· · · · 39 The Frost · · · · · 41 Snow and Ice· ·· · · ·· ·· 42 Flowers ·· · · · · ·· · 45 Grass and· vle ed s· 47 Landscape · 51 Seasons · ·· · · 53 Trees . · · · · · 55 Rocks . · 60 Animals and·· Birds· 61 Water, Sea, and \iaves· · · · · 64 IV. CONCLUSION . ... .. .. .. 68 BIBLIOGRAPHY · · · ·· · ·· · · · · ·· · 74 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In modern times in the creation of literature, especially poetry, imagery has widened its scope and particularized its meaning. From ornament and mer e deco ration to the core and essence of a poem, imagery has had a varied history. The essential and yet inclusive defini tion of imagery may be termed "words or phrases which denote an object perceptible to the senses yet designating some other object of thought belonging to a different order or category of being. "1 The object or image becomes a medium for conveying to th~ mind some notion regarding that other object or thought. The image is momentarily substituted for that object in the act of perception. Imagery uses a known thing to aid our understanding i n perceiving and penetrating the unknown. For it i s not in the word or object itself that the imagery lies, but in the mind of the reader. "Imagery is pa rt of the imagi native response for which the word is the symbol. "2 Caroline Spurgeon uses the term i mage in a wide sense to cover every kind of simile including the 1. Stephen J. Brown, S. J~, The Wor l d of Imagery, p. 1. 2. Philo Buck, Literary Criticism, p. 114. 1 2 compressed simile, the metaphor. The term is used not only to suggest t he visual image, bu t a lso any and every imaginative p i c tur e dr awn f r om the experience of t he senses.3 The pic t u r e may be suggested by a sin g le word or it may be an extended s ymbol r unning throu ghout a number of stanzas or t he entire po em. To draw t he p i c - ture t he poet ma y use a simple analogy f r om daily life, a delicate fancy f r om the im a g inat i ve world or the means of personification. Force and original ity o f' imag es c l assif y a nd rank a po e t . ~he vitality of a poet's image s t i r s us b ecaus e it touches or awakens in u s t he dormant and lazy c onvic- tions of an u n derstanding of l i f e which we p osses s , bu t often which we do n ot u s e . Be t we e n i magery a n d the world o f s ense-p e r c e ived obje cts t here is a h armony of variety, r i chness , a n d s i gn i f icance. "It is when the ob ject a nd sensation ••• bree d a n i mage in which b o th t heir l ike n e s s e s a pp ear, ,,4 that t he i mp a c t of the percep tion equals an i l l umin ation, a br igh t burning depth of insight . The im age is a des c r ipt i on or an i d ea which illustrates, illuminate s , an d embel l i s h e s h i s (the poet ' s) t hought: i t transmits t o us, t hrough the emotions and a sso cia tions it arouses, someth ing of t he depth and rich ness of the way t he writ e r views, conceives 3. Caroline Sp u r g e on, Shake speare ' s Imag ery and Vfua t It Tel ls Us, p. 5. --- ---- 4 .C. Day Lewis, The Po etic Ima g e , p . 23. 3 or has felt what he is expressing.5 The poetic ability to create this effect lies in the perception of the unity underlying and relating all phenomena. It is the poet's task perpetually to discover, to unify subjectively through his imaging, the new relationships within the p~ttern before him, and to rediscover and renovate the old. The real revelation of the writer's personality, temperament and quality of mind is to be found in his works--and in poetry, this 1s seen to a great extent in the images. The art of imagery is founded on the existence of analogies and correspond ences between the various objects of nature, and between nature and human life--man1s physical, emotional, mor al , and intellectual nature. Its most characteristic and distinctive form is the using of ma t er i al objects as images of immaterial, spiritual things. It is not the faithful copying of nature that creates imagery, but it consists in the ability of that copy to evoke certain impulses and emotions culminating in a complete experi ence. 5. Spurgeon, £E. cit., p. 8. CHAPTER II INSCAPE AND INSTRESS The importance of the poetic image to Gerard Manley Hopkins as a contributi~g factor to the essence of a poem cannot be over esti mat ed. "Some matter and meaning is es- s ent i al to it but only as an element necessary to support and employ the shape which is contemplated for its own s ake. " To see the value of imagery in the mind of Hopkins, it i s ne cess ary to understand his concept of scape, inscape, and instress .