Sound and Arrangement

 

The Windhover

by Gerard Manley Hopkins 
 
To Christ our Lord 
  
I caught this morning morning’s minion, king- 
     dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding 
     Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding 
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing 
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
     As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding 
     Rebuffed the big wind.  My heart in hiding 
Stirred for a bird, — the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!   
 
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here 
     Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!  
     No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion 
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear, 
     Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.
 
Green letters mark alliteration (repeated consonant sounds on stressed syllables)
Blue letters mark other forms of consonance or assonance
Red letters mark single syllable end rhyme
Purple letters mark penultimate syllable rhyme