INVERSNAID

BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

This darksome burn, horseback brown,
His rollrock highroad roaring down,
In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam
Flutes and low to the lake falls home.

A windpuff-bonnet of fáwn-fróth
Turns and twindles over the broth
Of a pool so pitchblack, féll-frówning,
It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning.

Degged with dew, dappled with dew

Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through,
Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern,
And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn.

What would the world be, once bereft

Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
 READINGS OF THE POEM

https://youtu.be/1Ft32MBYfUE

https://youtu.be/u6ycppTBIQI
 GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

Gerard Manley Hopkins was a remarkably inventive and experimental

Victorian poet.
He was born on July 28, 1844, in Stratford, Essex, England and died on
June 8, 1889 in Dublin, Ireland.
Hopkins served as missionary, occasional preacher, and parish priest in
various Jesuit churches and institutions in London, Oxford, Liverpool,
and Glasgow. He was appointed professor of Greek literature at
University College, Dublin, in 1884.
Hopkins’ work was recognized as among the most original, powerful, and
influential literary accomplishments of his century.
 INSIPRATION FOR THE POEM/TITLE OF
THE POEM

The poem Inversnaid was written in the autumn of 1881 while Hopkins, the
Jesuit (an apostolic religious community called the Society of Jesus) priest, was
ministering to his flock in inner city Glasgow. On one of his rest days he paid a
hurried visit the little village of Inversnaid on the east bank of Loch Lomond,
famous for its waterfalls that pour into the lake. The lake is in the Scottish
Highlands, and he was inspired to write this poem.
(“Inversnaid” is a shortened form of the Scottish Gaelic
“Inbhir Snáthaid” which means “the mouth of the needle
stream.”)
 SUMMARY
In 'Inversnaid' Gerard Manley Hopkins was inspired by the time he spent in the
Scottish Highlands. He adapted many Scottish dialectic words to this particular piece
and titled the poem after a small village in which he stayed. This poem is an example
of how he continually explores the possibilities of words.

The poem was written at the height of the Industrial Revolution in England and
Scotland and the poet makes an appeal that such places should not be destroyed
forever by man’s search for wealth at any price. The poet praises the special and
irreplaceable beauty of the ‘wetness and wildness’ of the world.
 The actual
stream and
waterfall
described in ENERGY FACTORIES
the poem. Venus has a beautiful name
and is the second planet from
Despite being red, Mars is
actually a cold place. It’s full
the Sun of iron oxide dust
 STRUCTURE
• A four stanza poem which is divided into sets of four lines, known as quatrains.

• The first three stanzas convey a lively and exciting picture in our minds. The
final stanza is a plea that such natural beauty be preserved.

• The first three stanzas are single sentences, but the last stanza contains two
sentences.
 RHYME
• These quatrains follow a simple rhyme scheme of AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH
– two rhyming couplets per stanza.

• This pattern, as well as the rhythm inherent to the lines themselves, is known as
“sprung rhythm”. Sprung rhythm is based on the number of stressed syllables
in a line and permits an indeterminate number of unstressed syllables. It is
designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech.

• In “Inversnaid” there are four strong beats in each line, often further
emphasized by alliteration. This gives a buoyant, uplifting feeling to the poem’s
movement.
 TONE
• The tone in the first three stanzas is appreciative -
Admiration, praise and celebration of nature.
• In the last stanza it becomes quizzical when he questions
the wisdom of the progress of the Industrial Revolution.
• In the last stanza the tone is pleading. The speaker is
appealing to the reader to protect nature and not allow it
to be destroyed
 THEMES
1. Natural wonder
• The speaker is in awe of the beauty of
Nature. He expresses it through
newly-coined words like ‘darksome’,
rollrock,’ fáwn-fróth.
• By using alliteration, he makes the
reader hear the sounds in Nature.
 THEMES
2. The preservation of nature
• The speaker was concerned that the
Industrial revolution might destroy
Nature because mankind was more
concerned about prosperity.
• He therefore starts stanza 4 with a
rhetorical question.
 VOCABULARY
WORD BASIC MEANING
Inversnaid a remote part of the Scottish Highlands, on the east bank of Loch Lomond
Darksome dark and gloomy
Burn a stream
Highroad main road
Coop In his notebook, Hopkins described a coop as an ‘enclosed hollow’
Fleece woolly covering of sheep
Comb water rippling or running freely
Flutes to make a shape like the flute or stem of a long-stemmed glass; to make the
whistling sound of the musical instrument of the same name
 VOCABULARY
WORD BASIC MEANING
windpuff bonnet froth which sits on top of the water like a lady’s hat, or part of a sail.
fáwn-fróth fawn-coloured foam created by running water in streams
twindles twists, turns and dwindles
broth soup consisting of meat or vegetables cooked in stock, sometimes thickened
with barley or other cereals.
féll-frówning frowning fiercely
A hill or stretch of high moorland, especially in northern England
degged from the Scots dialect: a word meaning to water a plant
dappled marked with spots or rounded patches
 VOCABULARY
WORD BASIC MEANING
Groins Sides
Braes Hills
Tread To walk or proceed along
Wiry Resembling wire in form and texture
Heathpacks heath is a dwarf shrub with small leathery leaves and small pink or purple
bell-shaped flowers, characteristic of heaths and moorland
Flitches Patches or streaks
Beadbonny Made beautiful – “bonny” – by being beaded with berries
Ash A type of tree
Bereft Deprived or lacking (something)
 ALLITERATION
LINE QUOTE PURPOSE
1 ‘This darksome burn, horseback brown’ The alliteration of the ‘b’, emphasises the dark
colour of the river.
2 ‘His rollrock highroad roaring down’. One hears the sound of the rocks rolling when
the force of the water hits them.
13 ‘What would the world be, once bereft’ The repetition of ‘w’ forces the reader to
consider the question.

There are more examples of alliteration in lines, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8,9,10,11,12, 14, 15, 16.
Alliteration gives a lyrical tone to the poem.
 ENJAMBMENT
LINE QUOTE PURPOSE
5-7 A windpuff-bonnet of fáwn-fróth The enjambment effective matches the speed
Turns and twindles over the broth of the stream and assists the reader in
Of a pool so pitchblack, féll-frówning,’ understanding the lines.

Refer also to line 3-4, and 9-10

13-14 ‘What would the world be, once bereft In this example the enjambment helps the
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,’ reader to understand the question.
Line 1

Metaphor: The colour of the river is compared to the brown

colour of a horse – suggests that the stream moves fast and
powerfully, like a wild horse galloping

This darksome burn, horseback brown

 Personification – stream given male human Line 2
qualities

Imitates the speed and sound of the stream

His rollrock highroad roaring down,

Combines rock and toll to emphasise speed of stream – so

fast that rocks are dislodged and rolling down
 Stream flows into a hollow where it is Line 3
contained

Metaphor – the residue of foam is compared to

sheep’s wool. Emphasises the soft-looking texture

In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam

The energy of the stream is now “cooped up” in the pool and gently
“combs” (flows) over the rocks – still emphasises the energy of the
water
 Creates an image of a narrowing in the stream before it falls down
(“low”) through the waterfall into the lake

Line 4
The ultimate destination (“home”) of water is the
lake

Flutes and low to the lake falls home

F- and L-alliteration emphasises the peacefulness of the pool with its

foam and gentle circling of water
Line 5

Metaphor – the colour of the foam is compared to

the soft brown colour of a fawn’s (young deer) fur

A windpuff-bonnet of fáwn-fróth

Metaphor – the foam is compared to a lady’s bonnet, swept up by the

wind – it is puffed up
 Combines “twists”, “winds” and “dwindles” – emphasises the force
of the churning water. Further emphasised by the t-alliteration

Line 6

Turns and twindles over the broth

Metaphor – the colour and contents of the pool water is

compared to soup (note enjambment to line 7)
Line 7

Tone changes – still celebrating nature, a sense of darkness and

depression brings a foreboding that things will turn horribly wrong

Of a pool so pitchblack, féll-frówning

Personification - “fell” (a hill around water) is given the human

quality of frowning at the dark water. Strengthens the ominous
tone of foreboding
Line 8

It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning.

Personification AND Metaphor – despair is compared to a person

drowning. It suggests that the pool goes round and round, it
drowns the despaired emotion he feels (nature heals his sadness)
Line 9

Sprinkled Marked with small spots

Degged with dew, dappled with dew

The surrounding hillsides which cast a shadow over the stream are
sprinkled and marked with dew
Line 10 Personification – The stream which flows
through the hills is described as a person
walking through them – implies a leisurely pace

Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through

Sides/Slopes Banks of the hill Stream

Enjambment adds to the image of the stream flowing at a calmer

pace
 A collection of heather (a shrub with bell-shaped
flowers) – symbolises good luck and protection
Line 11

Patches of green fern

Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern

The stem of the plant is thin, but strong A leafy green plant
(“varying”)

The descriptors “wiry” and “flitches” suggest that the plants can
withstand extreme weather conditions.
Heather

Fern
 “bonny” – Scottish for beautiful or attractive; “bead” –
reference to red berries on the tree;
Beadbonny = The tree is made beautiful with the red berries

Line 12

And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn.”

The ash tree

 Rhetorical question – mood changes from appreciation to
pleading/urgent through his questioning
Deprived

What would the world be, once bereft Line 13-14

The river/streams/lakes and plant

Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left

Enjambment and w-alliteration forces the
A plea to man to
reader to consider the question and
leave Nature to
emphasises the importance of nature.
run its course
 Inversion from line 14 –
Repetition emphasises his earnestness emphasises importance of
for the preservation of Nature Nature’s natural state

Line 15
O let them be left, wildness and wet;

Invokes a pleading tone

 Line 16
A rallying cry as a call to arms that Nature should be left alone and
preserved.

Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

Represents all plants, even the unwanted ones.

W-alliteration and repetition of the phrase conveys a mood of

pleading and anxiety
 Line 14,15 and 16
‘’Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.”

 The speaker expresses a wish and makes a passionate

appeal to the reader to preserve/ conserve nature for
future generations.

• We must not interfere/ ruin/ spoil nature, or if we do, the

world as we know it will cease to exist.

• ‘them’ – the wild unspoilt places in nature that need to

be protected by man.
Line 14,15 and 16
‘’Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.” (continued)

 ‘weeds’ – The weeds represent all plants, even the unwanted

ones. All plants/ all of nature needs to be preserved.
The speaker uses weeds to suggest that what is
natural in nature is best. Plants and even weeds
belong in nature.

• The poem ends with an environmental plea that still resonates with us today:
preserve the natural landscape and respect it !!

• Repetition: He pleads with the reader and is desperate.

• Alliteration of the ‘w’-sound: Combined with the repetition it

conveys a mood of anxiety and pleading.
The last two lines have endeared the
speaker/poet to generations of environmentalists
– thus the call to preserve nature is nearly 150
years old and unfortunately more relevant today
than ever before.

The poem takes on a very modern plea and could

have been written in 2023 by any one of a range
of eco-warriors from David Attenborough to
Greta Thunberg
 “Wildness is the preservation of the World.”
― Henry David Thoreau

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.”

― Gary Snyder