The speaker talks of people moving away from God and the glory of creation. They no longer marvel at the beauty and divinity of nature and instead defame and disrespect it.
Through its biblical imagery, the poem manages to conjure up, at various points, images of the creation, the fall, Christ's agony and crucifixion, man's continuing sinfulness and rebellion, and the continuing presence and quiet work of the holy spirit. These images combine to ensure that although the world looks bleak, man may yet hope, because God, through the sacrifice of Christ, and the descent of his holy spirit, has overcome the world. (GoldenEssays online).
The speaker in the poem goes through a sort of spiritual journey. The first part of the poem tells us of the lust and destructive nature of mankind. It talks about man's use of the earth for its needs and man's abuse of the earth in this selfish process. The language used creates dark and vividly unpleasant imagery with words such as "Crushed, trod, smeared and smudge.".
The second part of the poem stands in stark contrast to the first part. In the second part the mood is changed to a more positive and hopeful tone. This creates brighter and more optimistic imagery with words like "freshness, nature, broods, warm and bright." .
The form of the poem is of particular importance. This poem takes the form of a sonnet and it is a form used mostly for love poems. Why use a sonnet to write a poem in which you criticise people for being lustful, greedy and destructive? The speaker might be trying to give us the full experience of the poem by taking us through it and letting us experience first hand how bad things are and then telling us not to give up hope by showing us how good it could be. In a sense the speaker is giving scathing criticism and in the same breath he is providing us with a better alternative in the form of love for God.
A sort of bad news then good news situation if you will.
