Analysis of No Worst, There Is None

Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844 (Stratford, London) – 1889 (Dublin)



No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,
   More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring.
   Comforter, where, where is your comforting?
 Mary, mother of us, where is your relief?
 My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief{\-}
   Woe, w{'o}rld-sorrow; on an {'a}ge-old {'a}nvil w{'i}nce and s{'i}ng --

Then lull, then leave off. Fury had shrieked "No ling-
 Ering! Let me be fell: force I must be brief."

O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
   Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
 May who ne'er hung there. Nor does long our small
   Durance deal with that steep or deep. Here! creep,
 Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind: all
   Life death does end and each day dies with sleep.


Scheme ABBAAX BA CDCDCD
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111111 111111101 1001111100 10101111101 111111000101 110011101111111100110111 11111101111 1111111111 1011110111 101111111 11111111101 111111111 11001010011 1111011111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 747
Words 128
Sentences 13
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 2, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 38
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 179
Words per stanza (avg) 42
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

39 sec read
116

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Reverend Father Gerard Manley Hopkins, S. more…

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