Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FELIX RANDAL, by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FELIX RANDAL, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Felix randal the farrier, o is he dead then? My duty all ended
Last Line: Didst fettle for the great grey drayhorse his bright and battering sandal!
Subject(s): Blacksmiths; Clergy; Death; Mourning; Sickness; Priests; Rabbis; Ministers; Bishops; Dead, The; Bereavement; Illness


Felix Randal the farrier, O is he dead then? my duty all ended,
Who have watched his mould of man, big-boned and hardy handsome
Pining, pining, till time when reason rambled in it and some
Fatal four disorders, fleshed there, all contended?

Sickness broke him. Impatient, he cursed at first, but mended
Being annointed and all; though a heavenlier heart began some
Months earlier, since I had our sweet reprieve and ransom
Tendered to him. Ah well, God rest him all road ever he offended!

This seeing the sick endears them to us, us too it endears.
My tongue had taught thee comfort, touch had quenched thy tears,
Thy tears that touched my heart, child, Felix, poor Felix Randal;

How far from then forethought of, all thy more boisterous years,
When thou at the random grim forge, powerful amidst peers,
Didst fettle for the great grey drayhorse his bright and battering sandal!




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