Poem + Outline

God's Grandeur, by Gerard Manley Hopkins

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Opening paragraph
-Opening statement
-Thesis: I believe that the author, Gerard Manley Hopkins, of “God’s Grandeur,” is trying to prove that the human kind is flawed and that God still loves us.
-Three main points to be expanded.

Bodies
1st-Flaw
-“The World is charged with the grandeur of God…why do men then now not reck his rod?”
-compare this to real world experiences of today.

2nd-Flaw
- “…Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; and all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; and wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell…”
-compare to real world again to prove human flaws.

3rd-Forgiveness
- “…the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! Bright wings.”
-Explain real world beliefs about God’s forgiveness.

Conclusion
-Restate the thesis
-Closing sentence to finish paper