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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker reflects on the death of a strong man named Felix Randal, noting how illness diminished him.
In plain terms
Felix Randal was a strong man but he is dead after getting sick.
What can you take from it?
Remember the vulnerability of even the strongest people.

Where it applies

  • funeral
  • reflection on death
  • caregiving

Putting it to work

  • honor the departed
  • acknowledge frailty

Questions to consider

  • How do we remember those who passed?
  • What makes life fragile?

Another view

It focuses on physical decline rather than inner spirit.

More from Gerard Manley Hopkins

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  2. Poor Felix Randal; How far from then forethought of, all thy more boisterous years, When thou at the random grim forge, powerful amidst peers, Didst fettle for…

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  3. O if we but knew what we do When we delve or hew- Hack and rack the growing green! Since country is so tender To touch, her being so slender, That, like this s…

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