Repeat that, repeat

Repeat that, repeatJames and I have come up with a collaborative writing project that you’re welcome to join as well! The idea is to share your thoughts on a poem through writing: there are no restrictions on the format, as long as you publish your words on your website. Let us know when you’ve written something (e-mail), so we can add a link to your submission at the end of our posts. The poem is Repeat that, repeat by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889, poem published in 1918): Source Alt. text 66 Repeat that, repeat, Cuckoo, bird, and open ear wells, heart-springs, delight- fully sweet, With a ballad, with a ballad, a rebound Off trundled timber and scoops of the hillside ground, hollow hollow hollow ground: The whole landscape flushes on a sudden at a sound. I couldn’t fully make sense of these words at first glance, but recognised beauty in them straight away. Is that a hallmark of great poetry? Being struck by its beauty on a level almost beyond conscious thought? I knew the…