The Long, Dark Night: The Language of Hope and Despair in Milton and Hopkins.

          John Milton's Sonnet XIX and Gerard Manley Hopkins' "I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark Not Day" both address depression and darkness, both literally and metaphorically, in Petrarchan sonnets. Although both deal with despair and question God's role in suffering while using ostensibly identical forms, the language and punctuation couple with the content to lead the reader to very different conclusions. I shall examine the similarities and differences between the two texts, paying particular attention to the way that they utilize word choice, punctuation, and the Petrarchan form.


--K.S. Anthony