There are subtle biblical hints in the background here. And why would God/Despair look at Hopkins’ bruised body (“bones”) with “darksome devouring eyes,” as though he would eat him up? And why would he “fan” (blow against) Hopkins mental pains like windy storms (“turns of tempest”), while Hopkins lies (heaped) there, frantic to avoid those mental pains, and wishing to flee, to escape them? Hopkins asks why God would rudely place and push his world-shaking (“wring-world”) right foot upon him, like the huge, heavy, clawed paw of a lion. He speaks to Despair/God, whom he visualizes as a terrible, huge lion-beast. O in turns of tempest, me heaped there me frantic to avoid thee and flee? With darksome devouring eyes my bruisèd bones? and fan, Thy wring-world right foot rock? lay a lionlimb against me? scan

This is a view of his deity similar to that in parts of the “Old Testament,” the Hebrew Scriptures, in which, as in the Book of Job, God can not only help humans, but can also afflict them terribly with suffering and pain:īut ah, but O thou terrible, why wouldst thou rude on me In what follows, we shall see that Hopkins tends to combine his notion of Despair with his notion of God. And, very importantly, Hopkins has the option of NOT choosing “not to be.” He is saying he is still free and strong enough to say he will not choose suicide.

On the contrary, he says, “I can.” He can do something: he can hope, he can wish to the day to come, not only the literal day, but also day used as a metaphor for the light of peace and release as opposed to the dark night of his anguished depression. Not only will Hopkins not give up his last strands of strength, but he also refuses, when most wearied, most exhausted by depression, to just give up and cry “I can no more” - I am unable to struggle further. But Hopkins says he has only a few strands left in his frayed thread, and he will not let those untwist and give up what strength is left to him. His comparison of strength to frayed thread is based upon the making of thread and yarn and rope by twisting many strands of fiber together to make the thread or rope strong. So Hopkins is saying he will not give up what little strength he has left, he will not give in to despair. By that he means he will not take away the last few strands of manly strength he has in him, even though the thread made from those few strands that remain is “slack,” is loose and seems weak. That, he does not feel, would be a true and lasting comfort - only the inferior comfort of surrender.įurther, Hopkins says, he will not untwist the slack last threads of man in himself. He describes Despair as “carrion comfort,” saying he will not let his mind concentrate on despair, which would be like trying to nourish his soul/mind on foul and decaying flesh. He calls his deep depression by the capitalized name “Despair,” and he speaks to it. Hopkins, regarding his fits of depression, decides not to give in to them. I can Ĭan something, hope, wish day come, not choose not to be. Not untwist-slack they may be-these last strands of man Not, I’ll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee I will divide the first stanza into two parts for convenience:

That did not stop me from now and then remarking to meal mates, when I was younger, “I see you are eating another slice of dead cow.” Many humans, too, eat dead animals, but tend to avoid any signs of decay in what they eat. It has a strong undertone of something very unpleasant, as when we speak of vultures feeding on carrion - on dead animals. Put very simply, it means dead and decaying flesh. We should first make sure we know what is meant by carrion. We may see today’s poem as a mate to that other work, because it deals with the same topic, but in a slightly different way. We have seen in earlier postings how the 19th century British poet Gerard Manley Hopkins suffered from terrible episodes of depression, the worst aspects of which were depicted in his poem I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark.

Carrion comfort