No Worst There Is None Figurative Language

Grief is often a very difficult emotion to tackle and can leave people feeling hopeless and overwhelmed. Especially without a proper understanding of grief and why we feel it so strongly, it can be hard to handle it in a healthy and sustainable way. Gerard Manely Hopkins explores such feelings of grief and depression in his poem “No Worst, There is None. Pitched Past Pitch of Grief”. Throughout the poem Hopkins uses figurative language and imagery in order to reveal the overbearing power grief can have over a person, leaving them helpless and alone. In the first few lines, Hopkins uses diction and connotation in order to set the scene and convey strong emotions of grief. Specifically, the words “pangs”, “wring”, and “forepangs” all have negative and tormenting connotations (line 2). Specifically, all of these words are associated with feelings of pain. For example, if someone is experiencing a pang, their pain is short but extreme, similar to a stabbing. This is further emphasized with the use of “forepang”. This word implies that the

Specifically, the image of an “age-old anvil” is created, where the speaker compares himself to the iron being beaten on it (line 6). This causes readers to picture the process of hammering iron. The blows are heavy and constant, persisting until the job is done. The speaker illustrates his anguish through this process, causing readers to picture him instead of the iron on the anvil. Life has been hitting him with heavy blows repeatedly for as long as he can remember. This comparison effectively emphasizes how consistent the speaker’s misery seems to be. Any time he comes close to getting over his pain, a new blow is brought down upon him. There is no hope for escape or recovery in a situation like this, the speaker can only continue to lay on the anvil of life and accept the blows as they are