* Elevated Diction: The poem employs words that are less common in everyday speech, like "dappled," "pied," "fresh-firecoal," and "finch's wing."
* Archaic Words and Phrases: Hopkins uses phrases like "for skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow," which are more characteristic of older English than modern speech.
* Complex Syntax: The poem often uses complex sentence structures and inversions ("Glory be to God for dappled things"), further contributing to its formal tone.
While the subject matter of the poem is natural beauty, the language used elevates it, creating a sense of reverence and awe. This is typical of Hopkins' style, which combines formal language with his own unique invention of "sprung rhythm."