20 Duns Scotus's Oxford
TOWERY city and branchy between towers;
Cuckoo-echoing, bell-swarmèd, lark-charmèd, rook-
 racked, river-rounded;
The dapple-eared lily below thee; that country and
 town did
Once encounter in, here coped and poisèd powers;
Thou hast a base and brickish skirt there, sours
That neighbour-nature thy grey beauty is grounded
The natural beauty of the lily opens a meditation on the relation between the urban and the rural. This combination is the setting for Hopkins' focus, the Franciscan philosopher: thus one who inherits a love of creation (from St. Francis) and of urbane thought (the Western philosophical tradition, which has been urban since Socrates). 
 
