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Summary
Christ is addressed as the light that beckons and guides the heart. The ‘feast’ in the stanza refers to the sense of happiness and rejoicing in heaven as the chief sister’s rocky faith in Christ is uncommon to find. It sings the glory of Christ. Hopkins asks to know the kind of celebration in the heaven. It was a moment of rejoicing over the nun’s action as it coincided with another feast, the feast of the Immaculate conception. Virgin Marry had conceived physically but this nun had conceived mentally. The mental conception was regarded as a superior reflecting Virgin’s Marry’s giving birth to Christ. This nun by ‘uttering outright’ gave birth to Christ. The meaning of nun’s death was the manifestation of Christ or His rebirth.
Line by Line Analysis
Lines 1-2: Jesu, heart’s.....maid's son: Christ is Virgin Mary’s son and can guide us through his benign light.
Lines 3-4: What was the feast.....of this nun?
Feast: means the feast in heaven or the celebration in heaven to honor nun’s commitment in her faith to Christ. The nun has glorified Christ through her faith.
Lines 5-8: Feast of one woman.....thee outright: The poet doesn’t know the kinds of rejoicing.
Feast: can mean two things, the rebirth of Christ by the Virgin and the celebration over the nun’s faith.
Conceive: has two meanings, to conceive a child or become pregnant and to conceive mentally the image of Christ symbolizing the Christ’s physical conception.
Heart-throe: refers to the labor the heart experiences.
Word: Christ.
The nun has been regarded as Virgin Mary. The physical birth of Christ’s took place through Mary while this nun gave rebirth to Christ through her mind by her unflinching devotion. Though the nun dies but also it heralds another beginning a rebirth of Christ.