What does the last stanza mean?

Question

"Spring" by Gerard Manley Hopkins.
http://poetry.about.com/library/weekly/blhopkinsspring.htm

I don't understand how "choice" and "winning" are associated with spring. Can you tell me your interpretation?

Answer 1

The previous answer was very close and provided all the background...what was omitted was that the poem says that it is your unburdened choice that is most like Spring, that in the beginning all options are available as you haven't been told what is "bad"...but that you should also make the goal of your "winning" honorable. In other words, when you make a choice, make sure the thing you seek has an honorable end, "and", "honor" those that achieve their desire.

This was a difficult poem to read even back when it was written (almost 100 years ago). The word choice and syntax echo poems of a previous age and the images were meant to be manifold. Like many poets of the time, this poet wanted you to read the words and "feel" the meaning. We can describe intent and meaning, but in the end this type of poem is supposed to touch your heart more than your mind. You'll get a "sense" of it's meaning that may haunt you awhile, even if you cannot express it in words...and that's what the poet intended.

hope this helps

Answer 2

What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden.—Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

- I feel that the juice and joy are all the positives from springtime, which is generally seen as a renewal of life.
- She's making the reference to the Garden of Eden because springtime can be seen as the time of year when the earth is most like it was first at creation. (Everything was just being born) She says to get it (soak it in) before it goes away and is spoiled (sins of the world take away the joy of springtime)
- The choice comes in how you choose to take spring. You can let yourself forget all else and enjoy it, or you can choose to let it in, embrace it, for as long as possible. Let that choice win. Take it in, if only for ahwile.