The task I have set myself is not the discovery of new meanings in Hopkins' poem—it has been so widely studied that we rather suffer from a plethora than a paucity of interpretations. I shall try instead to work out some principles which will enable me to choose between alternatives in a fashion which will be systematic. My interest is double: first, in such principles of method as may emerge; and, second, in their contribution to the elucidation of the poem by presenting a unified and logical whole.