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“Springs the Stress Felt”: Rhythm as a Priority Indicator of Subject and Object in Gerard Manley Hopkins’s Poetry

Year 2024, Issue: 3, 19 - 29, 22.01.2024

Abstract

This article aims to explicate the terms subjective and objectification while tracing the priority of subject or object in terms of stress patterns, specifically sprung rhythm in Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poetry. The theories of Duns Scotus, Walter Pater, and Romanticism influences Hopkins and the influence can be sensed in his rhythm and stress as a method to demonstrate the position of the poetic persona and object in Hopkins’ poetry. Hopkins’ two notions of inscape and instress are also hidden in speech of subject’s perception and conceiving of the object. The inscape (design) is in the object and instress is the intensified form of the stress with will. Thus, these two notions also include the combination of the concepts of poetic persona and his/her perception of the object. In other words, this article claims that Hopkins’ philosophy regarding subjectivity and objectification has a gap to be explored with his use of sprung rhythm in poetry. The priority of subject and object illustrates how these two are foregrounded with rhythmic patterns in Hopkins’ poetry. Hopkins’ own explanations provide a backbone for this article, and these have been clarified by subsequent scholarship that reveals the Romanticist influence in his poetry. Hopkins explains the meaning of inscape as “design and pattern” and his main aim in poetry. Ultimately, his two notions, inscape and instress, that emerge with sprung rhythm intersect to form the objectification on the eye of the beholder, or rather the subject or sometimes the poetic persona in his poetry.

References

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  • Belsey, Catherine. “Constructing the Subject: Deconstructing the Text.” in Contemporary Literary Criticism: Literary and Cultural Studies, Third Edition. Eds. Robert Con Davis and Ronald Schleifer. London: Longman, 1994. 355-70.
  • ———, Ed. Postructuralism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002.
  • Bergonzi, Bernard. Gerard Manley Hopkins. London: Macmillan, 1977.
  • Bloom, Harold, Ed. Romanticism and Consciousness: Essays in Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1970.
  • Day, Aidan. Romanticism. London: Routlege, 1996.
  • De Man, Paul. “The Resistance to Theory.” in Contemporary Literary Criticism: Literary and Cultural Studies Third Edition. Eds. Robert Con Davis and Ronald Schleifer. London: Longman, 1994. 94-108.
  • Devlin, Christopher. “Hopkins and Duns Scotus.” in Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems: A Casebook. Ed. Margaret Bottrall. London: Macmillan, 1975. 113-6.
  • Easson, Angus. Gerard Manley Hopkins. London: Routledge, 2011.
  • Feeney, Joseph J. Gerard Manley Hopkins: Magician of Words, Sounds, Images, and Insights. 15-25 Minutes. Audiobook: A Now You Know Media Study Guide, 2013.
  • Grisewood, Harman. “The Impact of G. M. Hopkins.” in Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems: A Casebook. Ed. Margaret Botrall. London: Macmillan, 1975. 92-108.
  • Head, Dominic, Ed. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English, Third Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006.
  • Hopkins, Gerard Manley. The Major Works. Ed. Catherine Phillips. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002.
  • ———. The Poetical Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990.
  • Hurley, Michael. “Wrestling with Gerard Manley Hopkins.” Textual Practice 35.6 (2021): 921-940. DOI: 10.1080/0950236X.2021.1936774.
  • Iser, Wolfgang. Walter Pater: The Aesthetic Moment. Trans. David Henry Wilson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987.
  • King, Peter. “Scotus on Metaphysics.” in The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Ed. Thomas Williams. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003. 16-68.
  • McChesney, Donald. “The Meaning of Inscape.” in Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems: A Casebook. Ed. Margaret Bottrall. London: Macmillan, 1975. 202-7.
  • Noone, Timothy B. “Universals and Individuation.” in The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Ed. Thomas Williams. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003. 100-28.
  • Pater, Walter. Appreciations with an Essay on Style. London: Macmillan, 1920. E-book. <https://archive.org/stream/cu31924105726180#page/n9/mode/2up>.
  • Phillips, Catherine. The Oxford Authors: Gerard Manley Hopkins. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1986.
  • ———. Introduction. Hopkins, Gerard Manley. The Major Works. Ed. Catherine Phillips Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002.
  • Roberts, Gerald. Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Literary Life. London: Macmillan, 1994.
  • Short, Mick. Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose. New York: Routledge, 1996.
  • Tsur, Reuven. Poetic Rhythm: Structure and Performance: An Empirical Study in Cognitive Poetics. Eastburne: Sussex Academic Press, 2012.
  • Vos, Antonie, The Philosophy of John Duns Scotus. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2006.
  • Ward, Bernadette Waterman. World as Word: Philosophical Theology in Gerard Manley Hopkins. Washington DC: The Catholic U of America P, 2002.
  • Williams, Thomas, Ed. The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003.
  • Wimsatt, James I., Hopkins’s Poetics of Speech Sound: Sprung Rhythm, Lettering, Inscape. Toronto: Toronto UP, 2006.
  • Wordsworth, William. “The Prelude.” in Wordsworth: Selected Poetry. Ed. Van Doren. London: The Modern Library Classics, 2002.
Year 2024, Issue: 3, 19 - 29, 22.01.2024

Abstract

References

  • Abrams, M. H. A. Glossary of Literary Terms, Ninth Edition. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009.
  • Belsey, Catherine. “Constructing the Subject: Deconstructing the Text.” in Contemporary Literary Criticism: Literary and Cultural Studies, Third Edition. Eds. Robert Con Davis and Ronald Schleifer. London: Longman, 1994. 355-70.
  • ———, Ed. Postructuralism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002.
  • Bergonzi, Bernard. Gerard Manley Hopkins. London: Macmillan, 1977.
  • Bloom, Harold, Ed. Romanticism and Consciousness: Essays in Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1970.
  • Day, Aidan. Romanticism. London: Routlege, 1996.
  • De Man, Paul. “The Resistance to Theory.” in Contemporary Literary Criticism: Literary and Cultural Studies Third Edition. Eds. Robert Con Davis and Ronald Schleifer. London: Longman, 1994. 94-108.
  • Devlin, Christopher. “Hopkins and Duns Scotus.” in Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems: A Casebook. Ed. Margaret Bottrall. London: Macmillan, 1975. 113-6.
  • Easson, Angus. Gerard Manley Hopkins. London: Routledge, 2011.
  • Feeney, Joseph J. Gerard Manley Hopkins: Magician of Words, Sounds, Images, and Insights. 15-25 Minutes. Audiobook: A Now You Know Media Study Guide, 2013.
  • Grisewood, Harman. “The Impact of G. M. Hopkins.” in Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems: A Casebook. Ed. Margaret Botrall. London: Macmillan, 1975. 92-108.
  • Head, Dominic, Ed. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English, Third Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006.
  • Hopkins, Gerard Manley. The Major Works. Ed. Catherine Phillips. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002.
  • ———. The Poetical Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990.
  • Hurley, Michael. “Wrestling with Gerard Manley Hopkins.” Textual Practice 35.6 (2021): 921-940. DOI: 10.1080/0950236X.2021.1936774.
  • Iser, Wolfgang. Walter Pater: The Aesthetic Moment. Trans. David Henry Wilson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987.
  • King, Peter. “Scotus on Metaphysics.” in The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Ed. Thomas Williams. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003. 16-68.
  • McChesney, Donald. “The Meaning of Inscape.” in Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems: A Casebook. Ed. Margaret Bottrall. London: Macmillan, 1975. 202-7.
  • Noone, Timothy B. “Universals and Individuation.” in The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Ed. Thomas Williams. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003. 100-28.
  • Pater, Walter. Appreciations with an Essay on Style. London: Macmillan, 1920. E-book. <https://archive.org/stream/cu31924105726180#page/n9/mode/2up>.
  • Phillips, Catherine. The Oxford Authors: Gerard Manley Hopkins. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1986.
  • ———. Introduction. Hopkins, Gerard Manley. The Major Works. Ed. Catherine Phillips Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002.
  • Roberts, Gerald. Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Literary Life. London: Macmillan, 1994.
  • Short, Mick. Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose. New York: Routledge, 1996.
  • Tsur, Reuven. Poetic Rhythm: Structure and Performance: An Empirical Study in Cognitive Poetics. Eastburne: Sussex Academic Press, 2012.
  • Vos, Antonie, The Philosophy of John Duns Scotus. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2006.
  • Ward, Bernadette Waterman. World as Word: Philosophical Theology in Gerard Manley Hopkins. Washington DC: The Catholic U of America P, 2002.
  • Williams, Thomas, Ed. The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003.
  • Wimsatt, James I., Hopkins’s Poetics of Speech Sound: Sprung Rhythm, Lettering, Inscape. Toronto: Toronto UP, 2006.
  • Wordsworth, William. “The Prelude.” in Wordsworth: Selected Poetry. Ed. Van Doren. London: The Modern Library Classics, 2002.
There are 30 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects British and Irish Language, Literature and Culture
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Elif Derya Şenduran 0000-0002-4840-5053

Publication Date January 22, 2024
Submission Date July 1, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2024 Issue: 3

Cite

MLA Şenduran, Elif Derya. “‘Springs the Stress Felt’: Rhythm As a Priority Indicator of Subject and Object in Gerard Manley Hopkins’s Poetry”. Overtones Ege Journal of English Studies, no. 3, 2024, pp. 19-29.