Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend (Leaving Cert English): Revision Notes

Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend

Overview of the poem

"Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend" represents Hopkins' most direct and powerful challenge to God's justice. Written near the end of his life, this sonnet expresses the speaker's profound frustration and spiritual crisis. The poem begins by acknowledging God's righteousness while simultaneously questioning why those who sin seem to flourish while the faithful person struggles with disappointment and creative barrenness.

The speaker opens by admitting God's justice but then boldly questions this very concept, asking why sinners appear to prosper while his own devoted efforts result in failure. A particularly striking element emerges in the middle section where the speaker compares God's treatment of him to that of an enemy, noting how those who spend time in pleasure succeed more than those dedicated to religious service. The poem builds towards its climactic ending with natural imagery of spring's renewal, which contrasts sharply with the speaker's sense of creative and spiritual emptiness, concluding with a desperate plea for divine inspiration.

Form and structure

Hopkins demonstrates his masterful command of traditional poetic forms by crafting this poem as a perfect Petrarchan sonnet. The poem follows the classic fourteen-line structure with the traditional rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA for the octave and CDCDCD for the sestet. This formal perfection creates an interesting tension with the rebellious content, as Hopkins uses a traditional religious form to question religious orthodoxy.

The poem showcases Hopkins' distinctive "sprung rhythm", which was his innovative approach to metre. While loosely based on iambic pentameter, sprung rhythm allows for irregular stresses that mirror natural speech patterns. This flexibility becomes particularly evident in emotionally charged lines such as "Disappointment all I endeavour end?", where the rhythmic irregularity enhances the speaker's spiritual turmoil.

A subtle but important structural element occurs at line 5, where there's an indentation marking a turn in the speaker's thought process. This builds steadily towards the powerful final plea for divine inspiration, creating a sense of mounting desperation throughout the poem.

The epigraph and biblical context

Before encountering the actual poem, readers encounter an epigraph written in Latin that provides crucial context for understanding Hopkins' intentions. This brief introductory passage reads: "Justus quidem tu es, Domine, si disputem tecum; verumtamen justa loquar ad te: Quare via impiorum prosperatur?"

This Latin text translates roughly to: "Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend; if I plead against thee, yet remonstrate with thee I must; why is it that the affairs of the wicked prosper?" These lines come directly from Psalm 119 in St Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible, establishing the poem's deep roots in biblical tradition and the long history of faithful people questioning God's justice.

By including this biblical reference, Hopkins shows that his doubts and questions are not unique but part of a tradition stretching back through centuries of believers.

Detailed analysis by sections

Lines 1-4: Establishing the central tension

The opening quatrain establishes the poem's central paradox with remarkable directness. When the speaker says "Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend / With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just," he's performing a complex rhetorical manoeuvre. He acknowledges God's ultimate justice while simultaneously asserting his right to challenge it.

The speaker then poses his fundamental question: "Why do sinners' ways prosper? and why must / Disappointment all I endeavour end?" This question cuts to the heart of the problem of evil - the philosophical challenge of explaining why suffering exists in a world supposedly governed by a just and loving God. Notice how Hopkins addresses God as "Sir" in line 2, a term that shows respect while maintaining a certain formality, perhaps suggesting the distance the speaker feels from the divine.

The personal anguish becomes clear in the final line of this section, where the speaker laments that all his efforts, both as a priest serving God and as a poet exercising his creative gifts, seem to end in disappointment and failure. This sets up the deeply personal nature of the speaker's complaint.

Lines 5-8: Comparing divine treatment to human relationships

The second quatrain develops the speaker's argument by exploring how God treats him compared to how even an enemy might act. The lines "Wert thou my enemy, O thou my friend, / How wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost / Defeat, thwart me?" present a startling accusation. The speaker suggests that even if God were his enemy rather than his friend, he could hardly be treated worse than he currently is.

This section introduces what Hopkins calls "the sots and thralls of lust" - those who indulge in sinful pleasures - and notes that they "Do in spare hours more thrive than I that spend, / Sir, life upon thy cause." Here's the crux of the speaker's frustration: people who only occasionally engage in worldly pleasures seem to achieve more success and satisfaction than someone who has dedicated his entire life to God's service.

Lines 9-12: Nature imagery and creative barrenness

The third quatrain shifts dramatically to natural imagery, creating a powerful contrast between the natural world's fertility and the speaker's creative sterility. Hopkins writes: "See, banks and brakes / And birds build – but not I build; no, but strain, / Time's eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes."

The natural imagery here is particularly rich and meaningful. In March, the countryside comes alive with "fresh wind" and "fretty chervil" (a type of wild plant with delicate, finely divided leaves). Birds are busy building nests, preparing for new life, while the landscape itself seems to burst with creative energy.

Against this backdrop of natural creativity, the speaker sees himself as spiritually and artistically barren. The phrase "Time's eunuch" is especially powerful - a eunuch being a castrated male unable to father children. Hopkins uses this metaphor to express his sense of being creatively neutered by time and circumstances, unable to produce the great poetry he feels called to create.

Lines 13-14: The final plea

The poem's concluding couplet provides both summary and resolution: "Time's eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes. / Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain." The repetition of "Time's eunuch" emphasises the speaker's sense of creative impotence, but the final line transforms the entire poem's tone.

By addressing God as "lord of life" rather than "Sir," the speaker moves towards a more intimate and hopeful relationship. The metaphor "send my roots rain" brilliantly captures what the speaker truly needs. Just as plants require rain to grow and flourish, the speaker recognises that his creative and spiritual life depends entirely on divine grace and inspiration.

Historical context and Hopkins' personal struggles

Understanding why Hopkins wrote this sonnet requires knowledge of his personal circumstances during his final years in Ireland. By January 1888, Hopkins had written despairingly: "What is my wretched life? Five wasted years almost have passed in Ireland. I am ashamed of the little I have done, of my waste of time, although my helplessness and weakness is such that I could scarcely do otherwise. All my undertaking miscarry. I am like a straining eunuch."

This personal confession directly connects to the poem's imagery and emotional content. Hopkins felt his years in Ireland had been largely unproductive, both in his priestly duties and his poetic work. In letters to friends, he expressed similar sentiments: "All impulse fails me: I can give myself no sufficient reason for going on. Nothing comes: I am a eunuch – but it is for the kingdom of heaven's sake."

The poem becomes his attempt to understand why his devoted service to God seemed to yield so little fruit while others appeared to thrive.

Major themes and imagery

The problem of evil

The central philosophical theme of the poem is what theologians call "the problem of evil" - the challenge of explaining why suffering and injustice exist in a world governed by an supposedly all-powerful and benevolent God. Hopkins approaches this ancient question with remarkable boldness, directly challenging God's justice while maintaining his faith.

The poem's epigraph connects Hopkins' struggle to biblical precedent, particularly the Book of Job and various psalms where faithful people question God's ways. However, Hopkins' treatment is distinctly personal and immediate rather than abstract, making the theological problem intensely human and relatable.

Creative inspiration and divine dependence

Throughout the poem, Hopkins explores the relationship between human creativity and divine inspiration. The extended metaphor comparing the speaker to plants needing rain emphasises humanity's complete dependence on God for spiritual and creative life. The "roots rain" metaphor suggests that true creativity comes not from human effort alone but from divine grace.

Natural imagery and spiritual barrenness

Hopkins uses the contrast between natural fertility and spiritual barrenness to powerful effect throughout the poem. While the natural world bursts with life and creativity - birds building nests, plants growing thick with fresh leaves - the speaker feels spiritually and creatively sterile.

This contrast isn't accidental but reflects Hopkins' broader poetic vision. In many of his earlier poems, he celebrated the natural world as a revelation of God's glory. Here, that same natural vitality serves to highlight his personal sense of failure and emptiness, making his plea for divine intervention even more poignant.

Language and poetic techniques

Hopkins' language in this poem is notably direct and accessible compared to some of his more experimental works. The vocabulary remains largely straightforward, with few of the invented compound words that characterise much of his poetry. This clarity serves the poem's emotional intensity, allowing the spiritual crisis to emerge without linguistic barriers.

However, Hopkins still employs his characteristic techniques effectively. The sprung rhythm creates emotional emphasis at crucial moments, particularly in lines expressing frustration or desperation. Internal rhyming and alliteration ("fretty chervil") provide subtle music that enhances the poem's emotional impact without overwhelming its serious content.

Key takeaways