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1844–1889

20

Gerard Manley Hopkins

TOWERY city and branchy between towers; Cuckoo-echoing, bell-swarmèd, lark-charmèd, rook- racked, river-rounded; The dapple-eared lily below thee; that country and town did Once encounter in, here coped and poisèd powers;

Thou hast a base and brickish skirt there, sours That neighbour-nature thy grey beauty is grounded Best in; graceless growth, thou hast confounded Rural rural keeping — folk, flocks, and flowers.

Yet ah! this air I gather and I release He lived on; these weeds and waters, these walls are what He haunted who of all men most sways my spirits to peace; Of realty the rarest-veinèd unraveller; a not

Rivalled insight, be rival Italy or Greece; Who fired France for Mary without spot.

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20 · Gerard Manley Hopkins · Poetry Cove