Felix Randal is a sonnet about a
farrier, a blacksmith from Hopkins' parish. It reflects on the farrier Felix
Randal's dying, his last illness, and the priest's compassion for him and on
his former strength.
In the
first quatrain, Hopkins sketches the course of the farrier's illness as the
large man faded away until his thoughts became confused and four different
disorders combined to kill him.
In the
second quatrain, the poet examines Felix's spiritual state. Initially, the
farrier cursed the loss of his former strength, but he became more patient as
his religious faith increased. He received "the sweet reprieve and
ransom" in the sacrament of the Holy Commission, which carries with it the
promise of forgiveness and new life. Hopkins later anointed him with holy oil.
The poet implores God to forgive any sin the farrier must have committed.
In the
sestet the poet states that looking after the sick can endear a priest in two
ways - he may receive affectionate gratitude from those he tends; and,
secondly, knowing that he is doing something worthwhile might make him less
discontented with himself. The comfort that the priest gave is perhaps the
knowledge of God's love, and his touch is perhaps the giving of a blessing.
Poor Felix, who is addressed as a child, is childlike in his helplessness, and
also a child of God in the eyes of the priest.
In the
final tercet the priest contrasts the last feeble days of the farrier with his
earlier years, before death or sickness were ever forethought of. He was then
strong "big-boned and hardy-handsome," and had an abundance of
energy. His personality harmonized with his smithy (blacksmith's workshop) -
the forge built of random or rough stone, the powerful men, the big horses.
The sonnet
depicts two kinds of work - the farrier using his physical strength at the
forge, and the priest doing his work among the sick and the dying with another
kind of strength.
The poem
is remarkable in its use of Sprung Rhythm, which is a metre based on the
counting of stresses (Stress rhythm) instead of the counting of the syllables
(running rhythm). Each line of this poem contains six beats, with plentiful
alliteration and compound words.
In this
sonnet Hopkins reflects on the long illness and death of Felix Randal, the farrier.
The poet watched this "big-boned and hardy-handsome" man decline,
until he was broken by "some / fatal four disorders" and his
"reason rambled . . . . " At first Randal had railed against his
fate, but later, anointed by the poet-priest, he developed a "heavenlier
heart" and "sweet reprieve."
The poet
reflects on his role as a spiritual healer: "This seeing the sick endears
them to us, us too it endears." While the priestly tongue and touch
refreshed Felix Randal in his illness, Randal's tears also touched the priest's
heart, and so he is left with a sense of loss and mourning when the man dies.
The most
important line (9) of this sonnet is: "This seeing the sick endears them
to us, us too it endears." While the poet is actually a priest referring
to spiritual healing, his sentiment expresses a central truth of any healing
relationship. Caring for the ill (in the sense of doing things for them) leads
to care for the ill (in the sense of connection and compassion); perhaps this
is a re-statement of Aristotle's theory of virtue in which one becomes a
virtuous person by performing good acts.
"Felix
Randal" also demonstrates Gerard Manley Hopkins's magnificent technical
virtuosity as a poet. It is an almost perfect Italian-style sonnet (two a-b-b-a
rhymed quatrains [the octave] followed by two rhymed c-c-d stanzas
Sources: voices.yahoo.com/critical-estimate-g-m-hopkins-poem-f... - United
States-05.06.2012
D.N. Aloysius
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