God’s Grandeur Summary And Important Questions

God’s Grandeur

-GM Hopkins

God’s Grandeur Summary

God’s grandeur is a sonnet composed by an English poet and Catholic priest, GM Hopkins. In the sonnet, the poet sings the magnificence of the God and questions those atheists for their defiance to the god’s authority.

In the first quatrain of the poem, the poet describes the natural world energized with god’s magnificence. It is shining like shaken foil and gathers to a greatness like the flow of oil crushed in a mill.

Then, he questions the atheist for not following the commands of God. The second stanza describes the condition of contemporary human life. He says that the priority given to material activities over the spiritual values has left the world seared, bleared and smeared.

The glory of God is blurred by their focus on work. They have created a gap with nature by wearing shoes. Humans are not in contact with the real soil and they don’t know it’s smell.

The natural world has been littered and polluted but human beings can’t feel that desertification of earth because they have been cut off from the earth as there are wearing shoes.

The sestet part (the last six lines of the sonnet) of the poem testifies the perpetual regeneration of the god’s creation by his grace.

In spite of the destructive activities carried out by the human beings nature continues to infinity. Though brunt and blurred on the surface things are still fresh at the core. The sun sets in the evening and its rise the next morning with freshness, justify the continuity of the nature.

The poet also claims that nature is not selfish like humans. Nature is permanent it can never be spent. Nature renews itself automatically once it is destroyed. The poet says that there is freshness deep down the surface of the earth. It is because the broken world is brooded (protected) by the holy ghost with his warm breast and bright wings.

Here in the poem ‘God’s Grandeur’ the god is displayed as a guardian figure containing within himself the power and promise of rebirth.

Therefore, the poet believes that nature and god are the same. All creatures are able to survive because of the god. God is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. The poem is an example of Italian sonnet first eight lines talk about the general ideas were the last six-line express the main idea of the poem.

Some Important Questions And Answers From “God’s Grandeur”

Question. What is the central idea of the poem “God’s Grandeur”?

Answer. The poem God’s Grandeur composed by GM Hopkins revolves around the idea that human beings have been rendered incapable of perceiving the natural world energized with the magnificence of the God due to their preoccupation with trade and commerce. Hever, things are still fresh at the core and the nature continues to infinity due to the grace of God.

The poem tells that the grace of God is coming to us like an electric current, invisible but present. The magnificence of God gathers to a greatness like the ooze of oil as the mustard seeds are crushed.

Question. What do the words seared, bleared and smeared suggest in the poem “God’s Grandeur”?

Answer. Seared in the poem God’s Grandeur” refers to burning of something like body parts for skin that leaves a scar effecting with the sense of sight, taste or touch. It damages a person’s ability to interact with the outside world.

Smearing and blearing carry the sense of dirty smudge drawn across the previously clear surface. Such as eyes or lens of glasses. It also distorts the image we get in the lens.

Taken together all these three words imply that something beautiful has been damaged and the sense of perception has been compromised. These words explain why human beings cannot perceive the God’s Grandeur.

Some Important Questions From “God’s Grandeur”

Short Questions:

  • What is the central idea of the poem “God’s Grandeur”?
  • How is the glory of the God placed in the poem “God’s Grandeur”?
  • What is the significance of the repetition of the words “have trod…” in the poem “God’s Grandeur”?
  • How is the glory of the God praised in the poem “God’s Grandeur”?
  • What do the words “bleared”, “seared” and “smeared” suggest in the poem “God’s Grandeur”?
  • What are the reasons to determine the god is powerful? Illustrate.
  • When does the God show it’s greatness according to GM Hopkins?
  • Give reasons why men are unaware of the greatness of God.

Long Questions:

  • Critically appreciate the poem “God’s Grandeur”.
  • What is the central idea of the poem “God’s Grandeur”?

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