Dr. Thomas Dilworth joins The Color of Dust to talk about the poem Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins. This poem is a celebration of all things dapple, including the relationship between God and his creation. Dr. Dilworth explains how Hopkins seeks to renew our old religious cliches in a way that had never been done before: by pointing to all things strange. Not only will this conversation help you to celebrate whatever is ‘counter’ in your own life, but also it will challenge you to rethink your relationship with artificial intelligence. Ultimately, your calling as a human dapple is at stake.
The Poem
Pied Beautyby Gerard Manley HopkinsGlory be to God for dappled things – For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings; Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough; And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.All things counter, original, spare, strange; Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: Praise him.
The Music
The music chosen for this episode is Mallet Play by Maarten Schellekens, which you can listen to and download below. The ‘play’ of the mallets reminds the listener of ‘dapples’ against the instrument, each blow a single ‘stipple’ making-up the whole of the musical piece. We hope you enjoy!
Our Guest
Dr. Thomas Dilworth is the author of Here Away, a collection of poems. He is also the pre-eminent reader and interpreter of the work of David Jones and is featured on The Poetry Foundation for his poem Slighting.
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