Felix Randall Analysis

Felix Randall by Gerard Manley Hopkins

• A eulogy for a deceased man named Felix Randall.
• The poem expresses deep compassion and connection with a dying man.
• Written in England in 1885, influencing the language used.

Structure

• Petrarchan sonnet structure.
• Analysis divided into octave (first eight lines) and sestet (last six lines).

Octave (Lines 1-8)

• Line 1: "Felix Randall the farrier, oh is he dead then?"
  • Farrier: blacksmith, specifically one who shoes horses.
  • Question mark indicates shock at the news of his death.
• Line 2: "His duty all ended,"
  • Suggests the speaker was a priest who cared for the dying man.
• "we have watched his mold of man,":
  • Metaphor: Felix Randall compared to metal being molded.
  • Suggests he was a strong man.
• Description of Felix Randall: "big-boned and hardy-handsome"
  • Alliteration (repetition of 'b' sounds) reinforces physical strength.
• "pining, till time when reason rambled in it."
  • 'Pining' indicates mental or physical decline.
  • Repetition emphasizes loss of strength and rational mind over time.
  • Reason rambled suggests he lost touch with his rational mind.
• "some fatal four disorders, fleshed there,"
  • Alliteration with defining and fatal four fleshed
  • Refers to the belief in four liquids within the human body that needed to be balanced: black bile (melancholy), yellow bile, blood, and phlegm.
  • Imbalance of these liquids caused illness.
  • "the fatal four disorders fleshed there all contended?"
    • Contended means the struggle has come to an end, suggesting he lost this battle against the four liquids.
    • Rhetorical question reflecting on the long illness.
• Line 5: "Sickness broke him."
  • Metaphor: Randall compared to an object that can be broken.
  • Suggests illness destroyed his body.
• "impatient he cursed at first, but mended being anointed and all."
  • Mended suggests religious healing through faith, not physical.
• "A heavenlier heart began some months earlier, since I had our sweet reprieve."
  • Sweet reprieve- a relief from evil.
  • Sweet reprieve: relief from evil, referring to the speaker (Hopkins) counseling Randall.
• "Our sweet reprieve and ransom tended to him."
  • The ransom here means his soul was brought back.
  • Ransom suggests buying back his soul.
• "Our well God rest him all road he ever offended!"
  • Acceptance of Randall's death and forgiveness of his sins.
  • Broke and mended implies a physical decline, spiritual boost.

Sestet (Lines 9-14)

• Volta (change in subject matter): Shift from detached description to sorrow.
• "This seeing the sick endears them to us, us too it endears."
  • Caring for the sick makes caregivers love them, and sick people appreciate their caregivers.
  • Reciprocal relationship between Felix Randall and the speaker.
• "My tongue had taught thee comfort, touch had quenched thy tears."
  • Thee means you, thy means your.
  • Synecdoche: speaker's tongue represents himself (comforts Randall).
  • Suggests speaker comforted Randall.
  • Quench: to suppress or stop
  • Physically comforted Randall during difficult times.
• "my tears that touched my heart."
  • Personification: speaker's tears touch his heart.
  • Suggests the speaker was deeply affected by his relationship with Randall.
• "Child, Felix, poor Felix Randall;"
  • Suggests paternal love and emphasizes sense of loss through repetition.
• "how far from then forethought of all thy more boisterous years"
  • Basically saying how hard it was for him to remember Randall's younger years when he was full of life.
• Remembering Randall's younger years: "When thou at the random grim forge, powerful amidst peers,"
  • Remembering a time when Randall was stronger and better than any other blacksmith.
• "Didst fettle for the great gray drayhorse his bright and battering sandal!"
  • Remembering him preparing a horseshoe for a powerful horse.
  • Alliteration: Powerful peers, bright and battering reinforces strength.
  • Assonance: Great gray drayhorse (repetition of 'a' sound).
  • Metaphor: Horseshoe compared to a sandal (shoe of a Roman god).
  • Suggests Randall's skills were impressive and made horses stronger.

Structure and Rhyme Scheme

• Italian sonnet: 14 lines, octave and sestet.
• Rhyme scheme: ABBA, ABBA, CCD, CCD.
• Volta: Change in subject matter.
  • Octave: Detached news of Randall's death.
  • Sestet: Expresses sorrow and grief.

Themes

• Religion: Speaker is a minister/priest, uses religion to help Randall accept illness.
• Nature: Natural order of life and death.