Literary Analysis of “the Wreck of the Deutschland”

Literary Analysis of “The Wreck of the Deutschland”

        Gerard Manley Hopkins, a Jesuit priest, is regarded as one of the greatest poets of the Victorian Era.  He is best known for his deeply religious and theological messages depicted in his works.  "The Wreck of the Deutschland," a tribute to those who perished in the wreck of the SS Deutschland, is filled with spiritual and pious philosophies regarding God’s role of allowing suffering in one’s life.  Hopkins divides this work into two sections with two separate themes, this analysis will focus on the first grouping of stanzas.  In “The Wreck of the Deutschland,” Hopkins utilizes imagery, alliteration, and personification to portray the theme of suffering and to parallel it to those on the ship and that which he experienced in his own life deep within his soul.  

Following his extensive theological education and ordination to the priesthood, Hopkins vowed to no longer write poetry, for fear that it would inhibit his vocation.  For seven years he kept this promise, until he heard the news of the shipwreck.  Hopkins explains this situation by writing, “What I had written I burnt before I became a Jesuit and resolved to write no more… so for seven years I wrote nothing… But when in the winter of ’75 the Deutschland was wrecked…” (1).  Hopkins used this opportunity to express his own confusions and tribulations in accepting God’s role as part of the anguish of his life.  Cash explains what he believes to be Hopkins motive for writing this poem, “He is principally interested in articulating the powerful emotion that the wreck of the Deutschland has aroused and crystallized in him.  Devout Catholic though he is, Hopkins encounters acute difficulties in understanding God’s ways and seeks in this poem to resolve them” (4).  Throughout the poem Hopkins uses many literary elements to explain his opinions and views deep within the text.

        The theme of suffering is carried throughout the entire poem.  Hopkins first reflects upon the anguish he has endured in his own life, and upon hearing of the tragedy he begins to recall these events. In the first stanza Hopkins uses the image of the finger of God to demonstrate god's power over the fate of men, “…and doust thou touch me afresh? / Over again I feel thy finger and find thee” (lines 7-8). The poet gives this image to allude to the opinion that God had control over and allowed the tragedy of the wreck of the ship, and has allowed Hopkins to endure suffering within his own life.  Cash explains this theory, “In Hopkins’ interpretation of the shipwreck, God’s finger is to be found pointing at the ship and summoning up the storm that wrecks it; at the same time, God’s finger can be imagined as pointing to Hopkins himself…” (4).  Hopkins uses these lines to give himself and the reader the comfort that God has allowed for this suffering to happen, so as a result there must be good that comes from it.  

        Also in line eight, “Over again I feel thy finger and find thee” (line 8), Hopkins utilizes the literary device of alliteration.  Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in accented syllables.  Hopkins uses the repeated f sounds to bring attention to the word “find.”  This is to emphasize the fact that even though he is sometimes doubtful, in the end he can still “find” God affecting his life.  This is a prime example of one of Hopkins theological messages that can be applied to the life of the reader, but is buried deep within the lengthy text of the poem.  Without the use of alliteration this moral lesson could be easily missed or over looked.  Hopkins applied a great use for this literary element, in order to bring emphasis upon the idea that even though one may not be accepting of their own fate, ultimately God’s “finger” can always be found working in their lives.  

        The following stanza continues with several images that again reinforce the fact that even though he has endured turmoil in his life, God has permitted Hopkins to endure it to help grow stronger in his faith.  Hopkins begins the stanza with images of horror, “O at lightning and lashed rod; / Thy terror, O Christ, O God; / The swoon of a heart that the sweep and the hurl of thee trod” (lines 10,12,14).  The use of these images is meant to be a storm, “Hopkins has already experienced instances of God’s ‘terror’ and ‘lashed rod’ and knows that the divine purpose is always lovingly to ‘master’ men and make himself ‘adored’” (Christensen 382). Hopkins uses this image to represent the flood of feelings that his sufferings have brought him.  This second stanza focuses mainly on the negative tribulations that God has given to the poet in his lifetime.  Hopkins will continue to elaborate on these trials, but will begin to shed light on these images.