god's grander by gerard manley hopkins 1844 to 1889 the world is charged with the grandeur of god it will flame out like shining from shook foil it gathers to a greatness like the ooze of oil crushed why do men then not now wreck his rod generations have trod have trod have trod and all is seared with trade bleared smeared with toil and where's man smudge and shares man's smell the soil is bare now nor can foot feel being shod and for all this nature is never spent there lives the dearest freshness deep down things and through the last lights off the black west went a morning at the brown brink eastward springs because the holy ghost over the bent world broods with warm breasts and with our bright wings okay so this poem is by gerard manley hopkins um he was a jesuit priest and he his poetry very often talks about um the beauty of nature and how man is desecrating the beauty of nature and how um man's love for money has uh is destroying nature and let's see what's this poem about okay well the i think the title says it all the grander of god you know this first line the world is charged with the grander of god um despite the fact that man is destroying um his environment uh god is looking after us and god is looking down on us and uh man he is turning his back on god and i think here he's making a metaphor of nature and god because nature is part of it is uh an essential and beautiful part of our world um and man is becoming more and more obsessed with money um and therefore man is becoming more and more fatalistic um and not accepting uh the things that happened to him are through his own actions and these are just all reasonable so the world is charged with the grandeur of god every this world is full of uh the the wonderfulness of god it will flame out like shining from shook foil so i think this is where you when you open up a piece of tin foil you shake it there are all of this beautiful shiny things and this is a simile that um [Music] if you look you will see the beauty of go of god everywhere it gathers to a greatness like the ooze of oil crushed okay so i think maybe here we have a um a metaphor like maybe perhaps some oil on a surface and the beautiful colors of oil on water when it's reflected by the light why do men then not wreck his rod so why do men not reckon do not um uh see his rod god's rod the the rod of god the is something that a ruler holds it's um like uh a stick and god's rod um punishes the evil the the evil but it also cures the evil in people at the same time generations have trod have trod have trod so there have been many many generations and this is a world where we have had thousands of uh of generations of uh of humans yeah um uh we are part of nature we have been here for many for uh ages for millennia and then he says all is seared with trade to seer to burn so here this is talking about the fact that nature is being destroyed or our world is being destroyed by our love of money and we're not thinking about uh god's rod we're not thinking that um we are being punished for our love of money um but the fact that well just things happen then bleed smeared with toil and wears man smudge and shares man's smell so everything is covered with trade notice this seared bleed smeared we have internal rhyme so everything is covered with man's work yeah we keep destroying nature and building on it and a smudge is a dirty mark so the earth or the soil the um nature is uh smeared is is um made dirty is made unclean yeah and the smell of man is all over the earth man smell the soil is bare now nor can foot feel being shot so yeah they and in many in many places the the soil is bare the earth is bare things that that should be growing on the earth have been covered in concrete yeah and um we're not in touch with nature being shod well shod is to have shoes on your feet but here i think this is a metaphor saying that we are enslaved uh by this love of money as human beings and um it's like we have shoes made of greed for money on our feet and now we can't feel the earth beneath our feet because we have these shoes the this uh desire for money um upon us so after this destructive the this thing about how man has uh be has turned away from god and has gone to love money and is destroying nature but then this turns and he suddenly becomes much more positive um and for all this nature is never spent but nature like god is irrepressible yeah despite the fact that we are destroying nature nature grows back there lives the deep dearest freshest deep down things so nature is actually this beautiful fresh thing and it's deep down it's a part of our world here a metaphor god is part of our world um and nature it perpetually tries to grow back and you see this the way um you suddenly see a concrete jungle and there's a plant just growing from a crack and through the last lights off the black west went okay so um [Music] the black west this is talking about the the end of the end of the day yeah and then oh morning at the brown brink eastwood springs so the here this is this idea of of uh rebirth of spring i like his use of the word spring so one day finishes but the next day starts yeah um this is rebirth um we have uh winter which um uh destroys many many plants and many natural things but then there is always a spring there is always a rebirth and this maybe this is hopeful for the rebirth of man and that we will turn away from this um consumerist world that we're in this world looking for money and then he give gives the reason for this and he says this is because god is looking at us because the holy ghost over the bent world broods so to brood to think about so the holy ghost god is bent over the world looking after it yeah with a warm breast with ah i think with with mother's milk the warm breath the breast is where the baby suckles milk and has bright wings so god is bent over the world looking after us uh and it's got its wings alright he's got his wings around us trying to nurture us and to send us in the right direction so enough if you enjoyed the video give it a rating subscribe to my channel and i will see you soon bye for now god's grander by gerard manley hopkins