The Windhover The Windhover "The Windhover" is a sonnet by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889). It was written on May 30, 1877, but not published until 1918, when it was included as part of the collection "Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins". Hopkins dedicated the poem "to Christ our Lord". "Windhover" is another name for the common kestrel ("Falco tinnunculus"). The name refers to the bird's ability to hover in midair while hunting prey. In the poem, the narrator admires the bird as it hovers in the air, suggesting that it controls the wind as a man may control a horse. The bird then
The Bird in a Cage "The Triumph of Peace," which was staged early in 1634. "The Bird in a Cage" also has some bearing on the question of women onstage. Women did not act on public stages prior to the Restoration; but aristocratic women did appear and dance in masques. And in January 1633, the Queen and her ladies had performed speaking parts in Walter Montagu's masque "The Shepherd's Paradise". "The Bird in a Cage" includes a masque about Jupiter and Danaë, performed by Eugenia and her waiting women in their confinement. (In the early productions, all the female roles were filled by boy actors.)