In “Harry Ploughman,” Gerard Manley Hopkins describes an agrarian laborer in nautical terms to illustrate how work itself becomes a propeller for life’s voyage. The dynamics of sound due to the sonnet’s rhythm, syntax, and structure imitate the...
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Index theologicus der Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen
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In “Harry Ploughman,” Gerard Manley Hopkins describes an agrarian laborer in nautical terms to illustrate how work itself becomes a propeller for life’s voyage. The dynamics of sound due to the sonnet’s rhythm, syntax, and structure imitate the atmosphere and movements of both farmer and ship. By echoing images from “The Wreck of the Deutschland,” Hopkins points to the crucial roles of conscience and grace for guiding action, but not only toward material results. More importantly, they direct the worker toward selfless integrity and conviction, toward greater fullness of being. Hopkins’s polysemous portrayal alludes to the expertise needed for navigating challenges on land, at sea, and in verse. Hopkins’s mastery, like that of all workers who proceed with intensity in response to divine promptings or “stress,” serves as a vehicle for conducting souls to their eternal harbor. The sonnet’s maritime associations, as well as the multivalence of its eye, breath, and child images resonate in Hopkins’s spiritual writings and thereby highlight the vocational aspect of human labor.
