“Felix Randal” is a particular individualistic poem written by Hopkins and it highly represents the Victorian poetry in its Romanticism in theme, feelings and tone. At the same time the poem can be categorized as a religious poem too. Moreover there can be seen some effects of Pre-Raphaelitism which means an attempt to reveal truths through nature. The poem is all about the relation between a spiritual healer and the sufferer- how both complement one another in the act of attaining salvation.

1. Felix Randal
G.M.Hopkins

2.  Hopkins was born in 1844 to a middle class family got
himself established in the realm of literature posthumously.
 He was converted to Roman Catholicism under the
influence of Great Cardinal Newman.
 Later on he became a Professor of Classics at the
University College, Dublin.
 He was one of the greatest of the English poets.
 The poetry of Hopkins might be called 'passionate science'.
 Like other poets and painters of his era this poet and priest delighted in
the observation of nature.
 His principal ancestors are the religious metaphysical poets of the
17thcentury, particularly George Herbert whom Hopkins much admitted.
 His talent was so highly original that one cannot characterize it as
Victorian; in fact his use of language is modernistic.
 In most of his poems it is clearly evident a sensory vividness and
keenness in intelligence.
 Furthermore most of Hopkins’ poems are highly individualistic.
 He has often been praise for his closeness to the speaking voice,
for his ability to convey the rhymes and intonations of English.
 The innovative writer was known for his experimentation with
verse and invention of sprung rhythm.
 Through manipulation of prosody and use of imagery, Hopkins
created a world of nature and religion in his poetry.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
(1844-1889)

3. Felix Randal was published in the year 1918
though it was completed in the year 1880.
Setting of Felix Randal
The poet while a curate in a slum parish in Liverpool
had visited a blacksmith named Felix Spencer, who
later died of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Father Gerard Manley Hopkins had visited the 31
year old often and even administered the last
sacraments as well as officiated at the funeral.
This poem is an outcome of the
above-mentioned relationship.
“Felix Randal” is a particular individualistic poem written
by Hopkins and it highly represents the Victorian poetry
in its Romanticism in theme, feelings and tone.
Moreover there can be seen some effects of Pre-Raphaelitism
which means an attempt to reveal truths through nature;
the poem can be categorized as a religious poem too

4. The sonnet Felix Randal reflects on long illness
and death of a farrier called Felix Randal.
The poet notices the ‘big-boned and hardy-handsome’ man reduced
and declined also emphasizes the idea of his healing process.
Being a priest poet, the poet uses his spiritual power
to heal the man. It is quiet paradoxical that physically
strong men find it difficult to accept death.
The poet brings out the mutual bond between the healer (poet)
and the healed (Felix). It is a bond of compassion and trust.
Both exchanged their sympathy, empathy and kindness.
Hopkins tried to make the reader aware that no matter
how strong a person is; eventually that person will die.
Felix became reconciled to his fate and
achieved spiritual peace as a result of
ministration of the poet- priest.
Setting of Felix Randal…

5. Though the priest is not able to heal Randal
physically, the former is able to provide the latter with
a mental peace in his final moments in the deathbed.
Summary:
Hopkins through his sonnet Felix Randal sketches images of a long
illness and death of a horse farrier called Felix Randal.
The speaker observes that the ‘big-boned and hardy-handsome’
man had reduced and declined to ‘some fatal four disorder.’
Being a priest the poet then moves
on to the topic of spiritual healing.
Felix goes through extreme suffering before he succumbs to
death. During this time of suffering there is a mutual bond
formed between the healer and the healed.
A bond of trust and compassionate care is built.
Through kindness and empathy, the priest is able
to heal the sufferer’s soul, which in turn
becomes the cause of the former’s salvation.
While comforting him, the priest too is able to
find his path of salvation and internal peace.
Both seek the Lord’s forgiveness and at the
end, the farrier willingly accepts his fate
and places his life in the hands of the Lord.

6. Felix Randal is a Petrarchan or an Italian sonnet of romantic
self-expression. Each line forms four self-contained statements.
The speaker of the poem can be considered as a Roman
Catholic priest who is dwelling upon the news of the
death of Felix Randal.
The first quatrain deals with the news of the
death of a blacksmith named Felix Randal.
The first two stanzas are written in
the form of an interior monologue.
The recollections are sad until the line 9 which
then gradually shifts to a personal cry of loss.
The poet moves on to focus upon the speaker’s
state of mind on looking after a sick person.
The priest fondly recollects the earlier years spent in
vigour by the farrier which is so different from his
situation during his sickness.
There is a focus on the healing relationship between the priest and
the sick person- how they intimately connect to one another and how
the priest is able to spiritually connect to the ache of the sick.
Critical Analysis

7. Felix Randal has a sentence structure that follows the Petrarchan rhyme
scheme (also known as an Italian sonnet) of abba abba ccd ccd,
with an accentual hexameter rhythm.
Poetic Devices
Hopkins experimented with the English sonnet to bring it
closer to the Italian one. He focused on the Italian model of
sonnet with each line of eleven relatively long syllables and
was opposed to the iambic pentameter style.
The poem is a painful recollection of a dead person’s life by a
priest who initially witnessed his prime years and then had to
lend a helping hand during the suffering person’s last days.
Tone of Felix Randal
There is a gradual shift from a grim atmosphere to fond
remembrance. There is a touch of internal peace attained and
the solace the sufferer finds in such a situation as well as the
mental liberation attained by the priest who attends him.

8. The poem is all about the relation between a spiritual healer and
the sufferer- how both complement one another in the act of
attaining salvation. The knowledge of grotesque end fated for
even the strong men is conveyed through the images of the
fateful death of the farrier. The role of a healer in the life of a
sufferer is stressed throughout as a long lasting companionship.
 A notable feature of this sonnet is the shift in tone.
 The opening line comes across as matter-of-fact, whereas the
sestet provides a stark contrast.
 The tone changes to one of loss and grief.
 Hopkins uses his structure to establish some distinct contrasts like
‘powerful amidst peers’, ‘pining, pining’ & ‘some/Fatal four disorders’ .
 Hopkins’ use of compound adjectives like ‘hardy-handsome’ (line 2)
gives his poem a liveliness and freshness.
 The diction of the last stanza lends power to the content, as the
reader can visualize Felix Randal ‘at the random grim forge’ (line 13)
performing impressive physical feats.
Central Idea of Felix Randal:
Poetic/Language Devices

9. ♫ This poem demands to be read aloud.
♫ The rhythm of pauses and flow is made clear by the
punctuation and word order.
♫ In the first line, three points are made, separated by the
commas and the question mark.
♫ The use of alliteration in hardy-handsome’ (line 2), ‘reason
rambled’ (line 3) and ‘Fatal four’ (line 4) not only
increases the impact of the words due to their sound, but
also due to the linking of these words.
♫ The final two lines of the poem create a strong rhythm as the
short phrases ‘random grim forge’, ‘powerful amidst
peers’ (line 13), ‘great grey dray horse’ and ‘bright and
battering sandal’ (line 14) balance each other and
cumulatively build the image of strength.
Sound Devices:
Handsome Farrier Felix and Priest Hopkins:
This poem is an odd combination; on the one hand it is quite
businesslike, dealing matter-of-factly with the rites and services a
Catholic priest was expected, as his duty, to provide to the
seriously ill, but behind that it seems to be a tender and rather
loving meditation on the death of one particular man. That man
was Felix Spencer, a sturdily-built young farrier.

10. A farrier was one who could do the blacksmith’s work of making
horseshoes, fitting and nailing them to the horse’s hooves, as well as
undertaking the skilled trimming and tending of the hooves. It was a very
‘masculine’ profession in feeling and required a good deal of strength as well as
practical anatomical knowledge of horses.
The individualistic poem Felix Randal is a representation of Romanticism
through its theme, tone and feelings. The Victorian poetry can be categorized
into a religious theme too. Hopkins tries to reveal truths through nature, which
points at the usage of Pre-Raphaelitism effects in the poem. Spiritual healing is a
two-way process unlike the way it is understood normally. Through the
characters of the priest and the farrier along with the images of their mutual
understanding, one can clearly comprehend the meaning and effects of their
bond in each other’s life. The acceptance of fate and willfully giving into death
allows a man’s soul to rest in the ultimate peace.

11. S. Mohan Raj M.A., B.Ed., M.Phil,
Assistant Professor,
Indo American College, Cheyyar.
Available @ : 9751660760
E-mail: rajmohan251@gmail.com
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