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Literature Annotations

Hopkins, Gerard Manley Spring and Fall

	On-Line Text
Genre	Poem
Keywords	Children, Death and Dying, Grief, Human Worth, Mourning, Spirituality, Time
Summary	The poet addresses Margaret, a young child, who grieves over the falling of leaves at Goldengrove and the turning of seasons. She may not now be able to understand or name the source of her grief. When she gets older, though, and learns more of the world ("such sights colder / By and by . . . "), she will become less sensitive to external things and more aware of the true loss in human life--the loss of oneself. "It is the blight man was born for, / It is Margaret you mourn for."
Commentary	A short poem that speaks eloquently of the human condition. The true tragedy, according to Hopkins, is self-estrangement--and, therefore, estrangement from God, who is the source of the self.
Source	Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
Publisher	Peter Pauper
Edition	1955
Place Published	Mt. Vernon, N.Y.
Miscellaneous	Written in early 1880's. First published: 1918, posthumously.
Annotated by	Coulehan, Jack
Date of Entry	05/01/96
Last Revised	05/07/01