Who is God? A theme that Gerard Hopkins seems to have spent his life exploring and attempting to answer through his poetry. By exploring nature around him, Hopkins adds insight to God's relationship with and essential role to man-- that of creator and redeemer. In his poem "Windhover" we see a prayer to God as the all-powerful being in which we attempt to give ourselves fully over to-- and through the observance of a falcon we see Christ's descent from heaven to save mankind. The images in "God's Grandeur "further Hopkins exploration by following man's sinful nature, oblivion to grace and hope of salvation through Christ. Suggesting that the Almighty's grandeur comes from redemption of the unworthy. By harmonizing these poems the reader can begin to uncover Hopkin's understanding of the greatness of God and mankind's relationship with Him through salvation and grace.
             Throughout the octave of his sonnet, "God's Grandeur", Hopkins uses the natural imagery to explore the Biblical acts of creation, fall of man, Christ's sacrifice, and his disgust of man's continuance in sin and destruction of nature to show just how unworthy of God's grace man is. Through the act of creation Hopkins establishes that God's power is absolute and eternal. "The world is charged with the grandeur of God." This speaks to the spark that started creation-- the charge that brought man and the diversity of nature into being. The spark is also like electricity, which produces light: "And God said, let their be light. And their was light." (Gen. 1:3,KJV) Adam's fall that set for the sinful nature of man: "Generations have trod, have trod, have trod," also resulted in God foreordained master plan of salvation for his lost creations – Christ the redeemer. In the Bible, Christ was compared to the light of the world, and later the Holy Spir...