Name: ___________________
Spring and Fall: To a Young Child
By - Gerard Manley Hopkins
Márgarét, are you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leáves, líke the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
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;
And yet you wíll weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sórrow's spríngs áre the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It ís the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.
________________________________________________________________________
Directions: Read the poem through 4-5 times annotating important words, phrases,
images, figurative language, sound devices, syntax, and overall meaning.
When you’re certain you can paraphrase each line, answer the following
multiple choice questions.
1.
Of the following, which best describes the situation of this poem?
a. An adult is speaking to Margaret, a weeping child
b. A child is speaking to Margaret, another child
c. An adult at a funeral is speaking to another adult
d. An adult at a funeral is speaking to a child, Margaret
e. At the funeral of a child, Margaret, an adult is speaking to a child
2.
In line 2, the phrase “goldengrove unleaving” can be paraphrased as
a. Reading about a sad autumnal scene
b. Being unable to find a way out of the golden woods
c. A wood’s losing its leaves in autumn
d. Remembering an autumn wood of long ago
e. Pressing fallen leaves in a book
3.
In line 3, the word “leaves” is
a. A main verb of the sentence
b. The subject of the sentence
c. The object of the verb “care”
d. The object of the preposition “for”
e. The direct object of the verb “can”
1
4.
In line 7, the phrase “by and by, nor spare a sigh” can be paraphrased
a. And will not even sigh, later on
b. And a timely sigh will be insufficient
c. And in time sigh deeply
d. And will eventually sigh briefly
e. Though others may sigh then
5.
The “blight” of line 14 refers to
a. A natural disease of plants
b. Man’s indifference to others
c. The destructive impulses of man
d. The ecological irresponsibility of man
e. The mortality of man
6.
The poem presents Margaret as simultaneously
I. A child and an adult
II. One who grieves and is grieved for.
III. Living and dying.
a. I only
b. II only
c. I and II only
d. II and III only
e. I, II, and III
7.
The poet’s attitude to the characters in the poem is best described as a combination of
a. Detachment and approval
b. Admiration and respect
c. Curiosity and dislike
d. Understanding and sympathy
e. Superiority and condescension
8.
The poem presents the natural world as
a. Nurturing and benevolent
b. Hostile and unpredictable
c. Deceptive and inscrutable
d. Mechanistic and indifferent
e. Mutable and instructive
9.
Which of the following is an example of synecdoche, a kind of metaphor in which a part
stands for the whole as in “hand” for farm worker or “a herd of fifty head?”
a. “fresh thoughts,” line 4
b. “heart,” line 5
c. “sigh,” line 7
d. “springs,” line 11
e. “blight,” line 14
10.
The full title of the poem can be interpreted as
I. Two seasons of the year.
II. Margaret and the speaker.
III. To leap and to trip.
a. I only
b. I and II only
c. I and III only
d. II and III only
e. I, II, and III
2
11.
Of the following, which employs parallelism in grammar, meaning, and sound effect?
I. “Sorrow’s springs are the same,” line 11
II. “nor mouth had, no nor mind expressed,” line 12
III. “What heart heard of, ghost guessed,” line 13.
a. II only
b. I and II only
c. I and III only
d. II and III only
e. I, II, and III
12.
The poem employs all the following metrical devices EXCEPT
a. Feminine rhyme
b. Alliteration
c. Internal rhyme
d. Onomatopoeia
e. Triplet
3