Pied Beauty

In Hopkins’s interpretation, beauty is “counter, original, spare, strange; / Whatever is fickle, freckled” (Lines 7-8). When scratching the surface of the poem, the most obvious theme relates to what defines beauty in the natural world. For Hopkins, natural beauty is defined by its variation. The poem’s title points to this: If beauty is “pied,” it means that it is composed of two or more colors. It is unique in its pattern. Rather than describing images of pure blue skies, white leopards, or golden-scaled fish, Hopkins focuses on some of the more overlooked beauties found in nature, specifically spotted trout and dotted landscapes. He also references things that are sometimes considered “flaws” of human beauty, such as “freckle[s]” (Line 8). Hopkins references a variable beauty that emphasizes God’s creativity—He has made a world in which beauty is unique and unregulated—and God’s own constant, unwavering beauty. Hopkins emphasizes the unique appeal of variation in nature and illustrates one of the key tenets of Christian belief; the world is created by a perfect Creator, so therefore the natural world (in all its variations) is perfect in its imperfection.