Yes. Why do we áll, seeing of a soldier, bless him? bless
Our redcoats, our tars? Both these being, the greater part, But frail clay, nay but foul clay. Here it is: the heart, Since, proud, it calls the calling manly, gives a guess That, hopes that, makesbelieve, the men must be no less; It fancies, feigns, deems, dears the artist after his art; And fain will find as sterling all as all is smart, And scarlet wear the spirit of wár thére express. Mark Christ our King. He knows war, served this soldiering through; He of all can handle a rope best. There he bides in bliss Now, and séeing somewhére some mán do all that man can do, For love he leans forth, needs his neck must fall on, kiss, And cry ‘O Christ-done deed! So God-made-flesh does too: Were I come o’er again’ cries Christ ‘it should be this’. Gerard Manley Hopkins speaks of the deeds of Christ and his love for men in his poem "The Soldier." Soldier in the poem is a metaphor for Christians, who are otherwise known as soldiers or servants of Christ. This is evident through his first line as it says "Why do we all, seeing a soldier, bless him?" In that sense, Hopkins is asking why do we bless a Christian when we see him. I would say Hopkins' tone is contradictory as he questions Christians and credits them. His credit to their action comes when brings in Christ's words to say "O Christ-done deed! So God-made-flesh does too." This brings the point to say that men give their best, which is what Christ sees as a deed he would accept since he himself was man at one point. At the same time the tone could be one of admiration because of how he admires that manliness of the soldiers. He speaks of Christ, who is his the Son of God, in a way that he is delighted to call him his King. He then comes to relate it to God saying that he may have sanctioned them to do what they do and be who they are. This goes to justify that he has admiration for the men, being that the author himself is a very religious person, since Christ was man and says he will come back as man again.
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