Poems for study » Carrion Comfort » Imagery and symbolism in Carrion Comfort

Powerful images

The poem is highly imagistic:

The title itself is a vivid image, an oxymoron, as ‘carrion’ and ‘comfort’ have the opposite emotional colouring
‘Feast’ furthers the sense of a good thing become grotesque, as we might think of vultures ‘feasting’ off a corpse
A more conventional image is of the body being knit or stranded together.

The portrayal of God

The personification of God (technically called anthropomorphism) in the second quatrain uses biblical images reserved for God’s power:

for instance, the mighty angel in the book of Revelation ‘set his right foot upon the sea’ (Revelation 10:2 AV)
Christ is called ‘The Lion of the tribe of Judah’ (Revelation 5:5), who here preys ‘With darksome devouring eyes’.

Usually such power is exerted over God’s enemies, but here it is applied against his servant, Hopkins, who then becomes ‘frantic to avoid thee’.

Harvesting the good

At the end of the octave, the imagery anticipates the opening of the sestet, with ‘fan’, ‘tempest’ and ‘heaped’. In the sestet, this resolves itself into the biblical metaphor of chaff being winnowed away by the ‘tempest’, leaving ‘my grain...sheer and clear’. (See Big Ideas: Judgement.) Some of the biblical imagery comes from the burning of the stubble as one way of getting rid of the chaff; the rest deals with letting the wind do it. The idea of a personal cleansing is best captured in John the Baptist’s words about Christ:

‘Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor; and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’ (Matthew 3:12, Luke 3:17 AV)

Metonymy

Hopkins uses his imagery metonymically also:

‘right foot’, ‘eyes’, ‘Hand rather, my heart lo!’ refer to parts of the body symbolising attitudes of the whole person
‘Rod’ symbolises authority and sovereignty; to kiss the rod is to submit to authority, which is re-enacted literally at a sovereign’s coronation.

Wrestling with God

The final image of fighting, specifically wrestling, comes from a famous and mysterious biblical passage where Jacob wrestles with God all night, recorded in Genesis:

‘And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day ... Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.’ (Genesis 32:24-30 AV)

Just as Jacob did not realise he was wrestling with God to start with, so the same surprise seems to come to Hopkins as he exclaims ‘(my God!)’, not as a swear-word, which is how many people to-day use the term, but as a real ejaculation of horror and surprise.

The two ‘my God’s together then echo Christ’s last cry when dying on the cross:

‘Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying.....My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ (Matthew 27:46 AV)

For Hopkins to finish on that note is even more dramatic than his opening. He is claiming to share in the desolation of Christ himself.

Investigating Carrion Comfort

Can you explain the imagery of l.11?
What strikes you as the most dramatic image of the sonnet?

Today's New International Version: ²He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,
King James Version: ²And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,

Today's New International Version: ⁵Then one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.'
King James Version: ⁵And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

Today's New International Version: ¹²His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.'
King James Version: ¹²Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Today's New International Version: ¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.'
King James Version: ¹⁷Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

Today's New International Version: ²⁴So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶Then the man said, 'Let me go, for it is daybreak.' But Jacob replied, 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.' ²⁷The man asked him, 'What is your name?' 'Jacob,' he answered. ²⁸Then the man said, 'Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with human beings and have overcome.' ²⁹Jacob said, 'Please tell me your name.' But he replied, 'Why do you ask my name?' Then he blessed him there. ³⁰So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, 'It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.'
King James Version: ²⁴And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. ²⁶And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. ²⁷And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. ²⁸And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. ²⁹And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. ³⁰And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Today's New International Version: ⁴⁶About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' (which means 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?').
King James Version: ⁴⁶And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

1. Imitation, copy, likeness, statue, picture in literature, art or imagination. 2. A figure of speech in which a person or object or happening is described in terms of some other person, object or action (i.e. as a metaphor or simile)

A Figure of speech in which two apparently opposite words or ideas are put together as if they were in agreement.

A figure of speech where a non-person, for example an animal, the weather, or some inanimate object, is described as if it were a person, being given human qualities.

The Bible describes God as the unique supreme being, creator and ruler of the universe.

The use of language applicable to human beings in speaking of God.

A 4-line stanza, usually rhyming.

Relating to, or contained in, the Bible. The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament scriptures inherited from Judaism, together with the New Testament.

Supernatural beings closely linked with the work of God; his messengers, traditionally portrayed as having a winged human form.

1. The supernatural showing of some hidden truth or person; a moment of insight where new meaning is established in the belief system of a person 2. In the Bible, the name given to the last book of the New Testament, which uncovers the future.

Title (eventually used as name) given to Jesus, refering to an anointed person set apart for a special task such as a king.

Lions were well known in the Middle East until the twentieth century and feature in the Old Testament stories of David and Samson.

1. The fourth son of Jacob. 2. One of the twelve tribes of Israel. 3. The kingdom which covered the southern area of Palestine.

The 8-line stanza of a Petrarchan sonnet, always occupying the first eight lines. It sometimes has a division halfway, creating two quatrains. It poses a problem or describes some single object or incident.

The 6-line stanza of a Petrarchan sonnet, occupying the last six lines, sometimes divided into tercets or couplets. It often resolves the problem poses in the octave or comments significantly on it.

Relating to, or contained in, the Bible. The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament scriptures inherited from Judaism, together with the New Testament.

An image or form of comparison where one thing is said actually to be another - e.g. 'fleecy clouds'.

A prophet, described in Luke's Gospel as related to Jesus. John foretold the coming of Jesus as the Saviour of mankind, and who baptised repentant people in the River Jordan as a sign that their sins were washed away. Later executed by King Herod.

In the Old Testament the son of Isaac and Rebekah and twin brother of Esau. He wrestled with God and was often devious.

The first Book of the Bible, containing an account of God's creation of the universe, of earth and of humans, then his dealings with the family of Abraham.

1. Instrument of execution used in the Roman Empire. 2. The means by which Jesus Christ was put to death and therefore the primary symbol of the Christian faith, representing the way in which he is believed to have won forgiveness for humankind.

A sonnet is a poem with a special structure. It has fourteen lines, which are organised in a particular manner, usually characterised by the pattern of rhyming, which changes as the ideas in the poem evolve.

Not, I'll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee;
Not untwist--slack they may be--these last strands of man
In me ór, most weary, cry I can no more. I can;
Can something, hope, wish day come, not choose not to be.
But ah, but O thou terrible, why wouldst thou rude on me
Thy wring-world right foot rock? lay a lionlimb against
me? scan
With darksome devouring eyes my bruisèd bones? and fan,
O in turns of tempest, me heaped there; me frantic to
avoid thee and flee?

Why? That my chaff might fly; my grain lie, sheer
and clear.
Nay in all that toil, that coil, since (seems) I kissed the rod,
Hand rather, my heart lo! lapped strength, stole joy,
would laugh, chéer.
Cheer whom though? the hero whose heaven-handling
flung me, fóot tród
Me? or me that fought him? O which one? is it each
one? That night, that year
Of now done darkness I wretch lay wrestling with (my
God!) my God.