A summary of an underrated Hopkins poem
‘The Starlight Night’ is not a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem whose title is on everyone’s lips. Nevertheless, it’s a vivid example of his idiosyncratic writing style, and its theme – a starry night – is a perennial one for poets. But of course, Hopkins being Hopkins, he gives this age-old poetic theme the Gerard Manley Hopkins treatment, making the familiar unfamiliar and the unfamiliar familiar. Here is ‘The Starlight Night’ and a few words of analysis about this cryptic poem.
The Starlight Night
Look at the stars! look, look up at the skies!
O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air!
The bright boroughs, the circle-citadels there!