“Spring and Fall” Introduction

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“Spring and Fall” Summary

“Spring and Fall” Themes

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  The Inevitability of Loss

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  Lost Innocence and the Sadness of Growing Up

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Spring and Fall”

• Lines 1-4

  Márgarét, áre you gríeving
  Over Goldengrove unleaving?
  Leáves like the things of man, you
  With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Ah! ás the heart grows older
  It will come to such sights colder
  By and by, nor spare a sigh
  Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-11

  And yet you wíll weep and know why.
  Now no matter, child, the name:
  Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 12-13

  Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
  What heart heard of, ghost guessed:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 14-15

  It ís the blight man was born for,
  It is Margaret you mourn for.

  

  

  

  

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“Spring and Fall” Symbols

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  Spring and Fall

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“Spring and Fall” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Pun

  

  

  

  

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• Rhetorical Question

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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“Spring and Fall” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Unleaving
• The things of man
• Wanwood
• Leafmeal
• Blight

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Spring and Fall”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Spring and Fall” Speaker

“Spring and Fall” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Spring and Fall”

More “Spring and Fall” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.

  • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Hopkins's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.

  • Hopkins's Legacy — Learn more about Hopkins (and his many enthusiasts) at the Official Gerard Manley Hopkins Website.

  • More Hopkins Resources — Visit the Victorian Web for a wealth of readings on Hopkins.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins

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  • God's Grandeur

  • Pied Beauty

  • The Caged Skylark

  • The Windhover