"The Poplar Field" by William Cowper "Binsey Poplars felled 1879" by Gerard Manley Hopkins - Write an essay comparing and contrasting the two poems.

In the second stanza of Hopkins' Binsey Poplars there is also an extremely complex rhyme scheme. He uses this method: AABCCDDBCEBEEBBB. As you can see just from looking at the row of letters it looks quite confound and complex.

Cowper on the other hand has a far simpler rhyming scheme using an AABB method throughout the whole poem. This means that it is a far easier poem to read and understand but is not as effective as Hopkins' work of genius.

Hopkins uses a lot of different techniques to bring the reader into his world. He uses repetition to give the reader a reminder of the happenings of the Binsey Poplars. In line 3 Hopkins repeats "felled" three times. This gives us an impression that Hopkins is very melancholy and sad, that the poplars have disappeared. In line 21 Hopkins repeats the phrase "ten or twelve" to emphasise the meaning of these trees, in that it was not the quantity of the poplars but the quality of them. Even though there were only "ten or twelve" they still meant so much to Hopkins. In line 24, Hopkins also repeats "rural scene, a rural scene" it shows that Hopkins is very in touch with the environment and how it is being affected by mankind.

In the first stanza Cowper writes about the Poplar trees being cut down. In the second stanza the writer talks about how the trees originally "lent him shade" but "now in the grass they are laid" he uses them as a seat. This implies that even though they are cut down they are still useful even though he preferred them as a form of shade. In the third stanza Cowper writes how the death of the poplars have affected the wildlife. He specifically writes about the blackbird having to find refuge in an other habitat. In the fourth stanza Cowper describes that he is getting older and will soon die just like the poplars. This implies that he is more concerned with his life and that he, one day, will have "turf " on is "breast, and a stone at" his head, meaning that he will die soon like the poplar trees. He cleverly uses the trees as a way of thinking about human mortality. In the fifth stanza he continues to reflect about himself approaching death which prompts him to think of the "perishing pleasures of man" and ironically says that man's life is short, his enjoyment of the poplars lasts shorter than he.

Over looking Cowpers poem, this all ads up to meditation on human life and how short life is, the fragility of life and the fact that life can end suddenly and unexpectedly.

In the first stanza of Hopkins' "Binsey Poplars" it reflects the cutting down of the trees, "not spared, not one", giving us an example of man's mistreatment of nature. In the first stanza he also includes the most wonderful use of alliteration: "wind-wandering weed- winding bank". This gives us a sense of enjambment with the run of lines. In the second and final stanza Hopkins uses harsh words to describe the destruction and violence shown towards the trees. He uses words like " hack" and "rack" to give us an image of the trees being severely wounded. He goes on to say about how life is like an eyeball, and that even though a prick is so small it can destroy the eye. This metaphor is telling us how delicate nature and the environment is and that man can do something very small but can have a big affect on the world. Hopkins' concerns about nature are very similar to today's ecological concerns. He continues to write about the carelessness of man, " to mend her we end her". The ending of the second stanza is very soporific and has a sleepy tone.

Looking in more detail at Hopkins' techniques he uses large amounts of alliteration to keep the poem flowing gracefully. He first uses alliteration in line 2 where he uses "Quelled or quenched". He maintains the alliteration throughout the poem using such phrases as " Of a fresh and following fold" and " Shadow that swam or sank". All this alliteration all adds to the imagery of the piece, which gives this a graceful, and flowing feel to it.

Cowper doesn't use much alliteration at all. There are only two places where the writer uses alliteration in the poem and they are not used with great effect.

Both of the poems have a melancholy mood. The poets have a sense of depression because the trees have been cut down. The trees were their friends and they are sad to see them go. They look wistfully back on the trees remembering the positive images of them being with the trees. Cowper in the concluding verse writes that he must move on and just remember the good times he had in the presence of the trees. Hopkins on the other hand has a more negative approach to the cutting down of the trees. He shows that he was very attached to trees and how he wishes that mankind would not be so destructive.

I think that in terms of reading, I found that William Cowper's "The Poplar Field" was a lot easier to read and understand. The poem was a lot simpler to understand because there wasn't as much imagery put into the poem that might have mislead the reader. However I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Binsey Poplars" by Gerard Manley Hopkins because of the vast amount of thought provoking ideas that came into the poem. It had a very nice texture to it with all the metaphors and alliteration. The alliteration certainly had a great effect on me in terms of me imagining the scene where the trees grew. Hopkins has showed me how poetry should be written; going over the top to create a picture to help the reader understand what the poet is trying to convey.