Evaluation of Gerald Manley Hopkins' Poem "Spring and Fall" (Coursework Sample)

“Spring and Fall: to a young child”
Gerard Manley Hopkins 
 
MÁRGARÉT, áre you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leáves, líke the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Áh! ás the heart grows older        5
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you wíll weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:      10
Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It ís the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.       15
 
The poem begins with an inquiry to a girl named Margaret. Margaret, young as she is, is deeply affected by the leaves falling off of Goldengrove. Goldengrove is the name of the estate where the author wrote the poem (Tysdahl, 1979). The line "…fresh thoughts…" and "… as you grow older…" hints that Margaret is indeed a young girl.
In lines 5-7, the author continues to say that Margaret will get used to the unleaving of the trees as she gets older. In line 8, wanwood is used, but it is not a real world. It could refer to decaying material since "wan" means pale. Pale wood suggests decay which is similar to leafmeal which means "decayed material." Line 9 means death, man was born to die—we all meet the same fate which is death. This is paral