"The Windhover" by Gerard Hopkins

Although Allison argued that Hopkins’s use of the word “down” at the beginning of the last stanza describes the direction of the bird’s flight, I think it’s useful to consider a different interpretation of the word. Professor English at Franklin Pierce College Nathan Cervo argued that “down” in this context could refer to the soft fluffy feathers that exist “under the ordinary feathers of adult birds” (Cervo 1978, 80). Such a distinction is obviously not mere semantics. Rather, this enhances the meaning of the phrase “makes plough down sillion” because it lends itself to imagery depicting the bird’s feathers being ruffled as it ploughs through the wind. The bird’s mature outward feathers are pushed aside as the “big wind” rebuffs to reveal the soft feathers that covered the bird as a child, further complicating the depiction of the bird.

I like Erik’s deployment of the Christ analogy, and I think that the analogy can be developed further. William Quinn of the University of Arkansas notes the equestrian connotations of line 4 (Quinn 1983, 8-19). The speaker observes “how he run upon the rein of a wimpling wind.” This seems to be a reference to the famed story of Christ entering Jerusalem upon a donkey on Palm Sunday. Such an interpretation also provides further meaning to words such as “chevalier,” which in this context means a knight. I personally agree that “The Windhover” contains a significant amount of Christ metaphors that contribute to the overall meaning of the poem.

Works Cited

Cervo, Nathan. “A Reading of “Plough Down Sillion Shine”.” The Hopkins Quarterly V (1978): 80.

Quinn, William. “The Crux of “The Windhover”.” The Hopkins Quarterly X (1983: 8-19.