This poem is written in ‘sprung rhythm,’ the innovative metric form developed by Hopkins. In sprung rhythm the number of accents in a line are counted, but the number of syllables are not. The result, in this poem, is that Hopkins is able to group accented syllables together, creating striking onomatopoeic effects. In the third line, for example, the heavy recurrence of the accented words ‘all’ and ‘felled’ strike the ear like the blows of an axe on the tree trunks. However, in the final three lines the repetition of phrases works differently. Here the technique achieves a more wistful and song-like quality; the chanted phrase ‘sweet especial rural scene’ evokes the numb incomprehension of grief and the unwillingness of a bereaved heart to let go. This poem offers a good example of the way Hopkins chooses, alters, and invents words with a view to the sonorousness of his poems. Here, he uses ‘dandled’ (instead of a more familiar word such as ‘dangled’) to create a rhyme with ‘sandalled’ and to echo the consonants in the final three lines of the stanza.