Thou art indeed just, Lord, BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS (Short summary and analysis)

 Thou art indeed just, Lord, 

BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend

With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just.

Why do sinners’ ways prosper? and why must

Disappointment all I endeavour end?

    Wert thou my enemy, O thou my friend,

How wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost

Defeat, thwart me? Oh, the sots and thralls of lust

Do in spare hours more thrive than I that spend,

Sir, life upon thy cause. See, banks and brakes

Now, leavèd how thick! lacèd they are again

With fretty chervil, look, and fresh wind shakes

Them; birds build – but not I build; no, but strain,

Time’s eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes.

Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.

Short summary and analysis 

* The poem begins with the speaker using a line from the Bible, specifically Psalm 119. Through this passage, he asks God why everything he does comes to nothing, but that which nonbelievers do is successful.

* "Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend; if I plead against thee,   yet demonstrate with thee I must;   why is it that the affairs of the wicked prosper.” These lines in the poem  are taken from Bible. 

* Hopkins used poetry to express his religious devotion, drawing his images from the natural world.

* In the poem, the poet wonders if his situation would get worse or if everything would stay the same. There is clearly some doubt in his mind about God and his ability to influence the speaker’s life.

* The poet wants to know that, why, since he loves and puts his faith in God, why others who don’t do so, are allowed to do well. This is a genuine question, but the speaker does not expect to receive an answer.

*Throughout the poem  the writer repeats the same sentiment that was in the first part of the poem.

 He refers to the “sots and thralls of lust.” These are the servants of lust, those who are in its power, rather than in Gods. 

They are the nonbelievers and the faithless. The speaker feels as though these people he considers to be bad, “thrive” more than he does.

*In the last lines, the poet  specifically asks God that he be allowed, like the birds, to build something that lasts. Thus far everything he’s made in his life has come to nothing.

*Nevertheless, the poem begins by raising doubts about this notion of God's righteousness. It asks, if you are a just God, why do sinners prosper and yet my own work seemingly amounts to nothing?

 The larger theme explored is : why do the evil thrive while the good people suffer?

*Hopkins questions why "birds breed" (accomplish, create) but he cannot accomplish anything. 

* The poet calls himself "Time’s eunuch." An eunuch was a castrated male who could not beget children—Hopkins says that time has castrated him so he can accomplish nothing. The poem is a cry from the soul, asking God for help.

* G M Hopkins was a priest and here laments that he has given his life over to God and wants to do good, but feels he has wasted his time. He ends by imploring God to send his "roots rain" so he can accomplish the good work that wells up inside him.

Themes : 

* The poem's theme is humans' relationship to God : 

Hopkins suggests that humans cannot come to a conclusion about God's actions in moral concerns, and that all humans can do about the problem of evil is ask for God's compassion.

* The Manifestation of God in Nature :

Hopkins used poetry to express his religious devotion, drawing his images from the natural world. He found nature inspiring and developed his theories of inscape and instress to explore the manifestation of God in every living thing. 

* The Regenerative Power of Nature : 

Hopkins’s  poetry praises nature, particularly nature’s unique ability to regenerate and rejuvenate. 

Throughout his travels in England and Ireland, Hopkins witnessed the detrimental effects of industrialization on the environment, including pollution, urbanization, and diminished rural landscapes. While he lamented these effects, he also believed in nature’s power of regeneration, which comes from God.