Peace

Hopkins’s work is a lyric poem, as it conveys the intimate thoughts and feelings of the speaker. It also contains an apostrophe, since the speaker addresses an intangible, non-sentient entity in the first line. The first-person speaker begins by asking “Peace” (Line 1) a question, equating their subject of “Peace” (Line 1) with a “wild wooddove” (Line 1). Peace typically carries positive connotations with it, drawing up associations with tranquility, harmony, calmness, and a lack of war that is rather supplanted by reigning order. Doves repeatedly appear in the Bible and in other religious texts as a symbolic representation of peace, so in the Judeo-Christian tradition, images of doves have come to convey innocence and purity, and are often the embodiment of the Holy Spirit in paintings. Doves are characterized by their pigeon-like appearance and the calm, cooing sounds they make. Yet, while the image of the dove represents something desirable for the speaker, it is likewise unattainable and elusive. The “wooddove” (Line 1) is described as “wild” (Line 1), meaning that it cannot be caught, possessed, or tamed. It can fly away and escape at any time and in any direction. The dove is also described as having its “shy wings shut” (Line 1), which makes the animal seem closed-off and evasive. If readers are to equate “Peace” (Line 1) with this imagery of the “wild wooddove” (Line 1), then it is Peace which is equally as unattainable for the speaker.

In the second line, the speaker completes the question posed in the first. Put together, the question encompassing these first two lines asks when “Peace” (Line 1) (and the metaphorical bird representative of “Peace”) will “Your round me roaming end” (Line 2). If the dove is “roaming” (Line 2) around the speaker, then this confirms what the imagery of the dove relates in the first line; the speaker does not possess any “Peace” (Line 1), as it remains elusive like a dove. Here, peace exists simultaneously with them, but is not something they can call their own. It is apart from them. Peace, however, is exactly what the speaker desires. Readers can infer this wish at the end of the second line. The speaker not only asks “Peace” (Line 1) when it will stop “roaming” (Line 2) around them, but they also inquire when the dove will “under be my boughs” (Line 2). The speaker wants “Peace” (Line 1) to stop circling them and to reside with them, to remain static for once rather than in constant motion. “Boughs” (Line 2) refers to tree branches and tree limbs, under which the speaker offers “Peace” (Line 1) a welcoming and enticing resting place as shelter. The inverted syntactical order in this second line, the inversion of the subject and verb in each of the two phrases, highlights the significance of this line and the lack the reader feels.

The speaker becomes more agitated in the third line as they adamantly question “Peace” (Line 3). They express this heightened state of emotion through the repetition of “when, when” (Line 3) and through the repetition of “will you” (Line 3) that was stated in the first line. The speaker desperately wants an answer from this abstract, intangible state of being, wants to know when it will be their turn to possess “Peace” (Line 3). In keeping with this heightened emotional state, the speaker declares that they will “not play hypocrite” (Line 3). A “hypocrite” is someone who proports to have particular moral beliefs but behaves in an opposite fashion. This statement that the speaker will not act the “hypocrite” (Line 3) gets clarified further in the next line, when they specify that they will not “play hypocrite / To own my heart” (Lines 3-4), implying that they will not act as though they are at peace when they are, indeed, not. They will not sacrifice their integrity and act in a way that is incongruent with their beliefs, values, and feelings. To pretend to be in a certain state in order to “own” (Line 4) their heart and take control of the situation in order to make themselves feel better might work for a brief period, but it would ultimately be a lie.

While Peace does not completely occupy or “own” (Line 4) the speaker’s heart, their center of emotion/feeling, the speaker does acknowledge, “I yield you do come sometimes” (Line 4). The speaker admits, or “yields” (Line 4), that there are occasions when they may feel that divine peace residing with them. However, this fleeting peace remains inadequate and does not suffice for the speaker, who bluntly declares that “piecemeal peace is poor peace” (Line 5). The speaker desires complete and total peace, or nothing. If they only have “piecemeal peace” (Line 5), or peace only part of the time, then the remainder of their time is turmoil, turbulence, and trouble, which will make life dismal and unbearable. To drive this point further, the speaker poses a rhetorical question to readers at the end of this first stanza. They question what state of “pure peace” (Line 5), of total and complete peace, permits “alarms of wars, the daunting wars, the death of it?” (Line 6). War and death are the total opposites of peace. While peace denotes tranquility and harmony, war and death denote pain and suffering. The speaker appears incredulous that there can be peace one moment and then war the next, both coexisting.

The second stanza continues with the speaker’s musings regarding this dearth of peace. The Lord, according to the speaker, is “reaving Peace” (Line 7). To “reave” means to deny, withhold, or rob. This is a hefty charge to place before God, claiming that the Lord is intentionally keeping Peace from humanity. If this is the case, however, the speaker asserts that the Lord should at least “leave in lieu” (Line 7), or leave instead, “Some good” (Line 8). The speaker desires some reprieve, at least, from the suffering and war, even if peace is something unattainable for them. What God does leave is “Patience exquisite” (Line 8), something which is beautiful, lovely, and graceful. While the speaker may not have the “Peace” (Line 9) that they so desire, they have the next best thing, another gift from God to possibly act as a salve. The capitalization of “Patience” (Line 8) indicates the importance of this virtue specifically. Saint Paul identifies patience as a “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22. God’s gift of “Patience” eventually “plumes to Peace thereafter” (Line 9). While God does not award “Peace” (Line 9) directly, the gift of patience offers the means to achieve “Peace” (Line 9) in time, for according to the speaker, the keys to achieving “Peace” (Line 9) are time and forbearance. By feeding “Patience” (Line 8) with time, commitment, and devotion, it eventually “plumes” (Line 9) (or blossoms/grows) into Peace.

In the final lines of the poem, the speaker considers what might hypothetically occur when “Peace” (Line 9) is achieved. When “Peace” (Line 9) eventually “here does house” (Line 9) and is attained by the speaker, “He comes with work to do” (Line 10). The “He” (Line 10) in this line could personify “Peace” (Line 9) itself, or it could refer to God, possibly even God working through “Peace” (Line 9). Whereas in the opening lines of the poem, the speaker views Peace as passive rest, they realize at the end of the poem that “Peace” (Line 9) is constantly active and working. For the speaker, “Peace” (Line 9) does not always “coo” (Line 10) with innocence and pure contentment. Rather, it comes to “brood and sit” (Line 11). To “brood” means to think over anxiously and deeply contemplate something that is often negative. “Peace” (Line 9) works to change the speaker, or any individual, who may eventually possess it; it is not as passive as the speaker assumes at the beginning. When there is war, there is no Peace. When there is no war, “Peace” (Line 9) waits and broods over the moment when war will come again—indeed it must be active to avoid the inevitability of war. As such, “Peace” (Line 9) is inextricably intertwined with war and other moments where it is absent.

With this in mind, it is worth noting that Hopkins capitalizes the “Peace” (Line 1) that is associated with a dove for most of the poem, linking it to a divine notion of peace that comes from God and the Holy Spirit, and personifying it, almost like an angel. However, by lines five and six, divine “Peace” (Line 1) is replaced with “piecemeal peace” (Line 5) and “poor peace” (Line 5), both inferior versions of peace that seem to casually coexist with war. As such, the “Peace” (Line 1) of the first lines of the poem is distinguished as a higher type of peace, and one that is actively “brooding” (Line 11) against the next onset of war.