The Windhover

“The Windhover” is a complicated poem. The complication comes from a few things, including the unusual syntax and the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated images. While the images seem to come and go without much literal sense, they all relate to the experience of epiphany, religious fervor, and inspiration. Initially, the bird’s grace and strength invoke a feeling that is Christlike, then the fire opens before the speaker as an expression of his feeling about seeing the beauty and strength of the Christlike bird, and finally the fire itself opens to reveal a deeper core that is both extraordinary and commonplace, suggesting this experience is as extraordinary as Christ and as common as a bird.

It is helpful to think of the poem in two parts. The first stanza is the first part where the speaker sets up an image to be dwelled upon in the second half of the poem. This image is both metaphorical and literal, as Hopkins uses precise descriptors and truncated syntax to better represent the bird’s movement. He also uses his own metrical invention—sprung rhythm (See: Literary Devices)—to let his form capture the bird’s movement. The use of irregular syntax and sprung rhythm gives the lines a feeling of movement while also contributing to the melodic feeling of the verse. With all this taken together, the first part of this poem is dedicated to invoking an image in the reader’s mind. Hopkins wants readers to experience the sight in as close a way as possible to how he experienced it. This is important because the second half of the poem rests on the idea that the first part of the poem induced a feeling of awe and the sublime. For the reaction in the second half of the poem to have any weight, the image that caused the reaction must be extraordinary. Hopkins believed the image he saw that inspired the poem was extraordinary, so he does everything he can in the first stanza to capture the exact feeling he experienced.

The second and third stanzas comprise the second half of the poem. These stanzas detail the speaker’s religious epiphany the first stanza inspires. Here, the poet alludes to Jesus Christ, connecting him to the bird while also carefully expressing the vastly more light and inspiration Jesus inspires than the bird does. A tense shift signals the shift from the natural image to the religious reaction. This occurs in the middle of the second stanza when the speaker describes the “fire that breaks from thee” (Line 10). This fire is “a billion / Times told lovelier, more dangerous” (Lines 10-11) than the fire of inspiration the bird causes. By tagging this shift with the term of endearment “chevalier” and dedicating the poem “To Christ our lord,” the speaker announces the presence of Christ without naming him.

The second stanza also contains a confusing moment where the speaker uses the word “buckle.” In the context of the line, “buckle” essentially means to kneel; however, it’s unclear whether this word refers to the bird or to the speaker himself. Is the speaker describing the bird’s movement as it prepares to fly again? Or is the speaker giving himself the command to fall in worship before God? The meaning is unclear but could refer to both actions at the same time.

The final image of Christ’s fire opening is another complicated one. The imagery here relates to the crucifixion of Christ. For example, the plow gashes the earth, splitting it in two and revealing new life for seeds to grow in. Just as this image depicts the gashing of one thing to reveal a deeper light, so too does the image of the fire opening up to reveal an even brighter core. It’s also no coincidence that the fire is red, the color of blood. This corresponds to the final image of the poem that uses the words “gash” and “vermillion” (Line 14). These words invoke the moments after the crucifixion in John 19:34 when a soldier gashes open Jesus’s side with a spear and blood flows out from him.

While there is no single interpretation of this section of the poem, the feeling of religious intoxication comes through. Put simply, Hopkins is expressing the belief that a truly religious experience of Christ brings forth the brightest light there is—a light that is as extraordinary as the perfection of the bird’s movements but also as common as that same bird’s movements. When the bird best exemplifies the perfection with which it was made, the true beauty of the God who created the bird comes to light. Hopkins experiences this illuminative epiphany through the progression of the poem as he starts by watching the natural beauty and ends by reflecting on the feeling of light, love, and reverence he feels for Jesus.

From a different perspective, however, the poem can be read biographically. Considering Hopkins struggled mightily with his competing passions for religion and poetry, the poem can be viewed as an attempt to come to terms with how much Hopkins believed poetry stood in the way of his full devotion to faith. Read this way, the fire at the end of the poem is an invocation from the poet to the poet, comparing his own religious zeal and passion to that of Christ. In this reading, the poet becomes the chevalier instead of Christ being the chevalier, and the final images of plowing refer to the sacrifice he would make by not pursuing publication and poetry. Instead of pursuing these passions, for Hopkins his pursuit of religion must be front and center.

Readers might struggle with which interpretation to favor, but both can be simultaneously true. Hopkins could both be expressing religious zeal and expressing a sort of coming to terms with his own identity. Both purposes harmonize and fit with the imagery and language of the second half of the poem. Ultimately, what is most objective is that the poem uses the imagery of the physical world to comment on the metaphysical world and glorify Christ.