This sonnet recounts an instant where the speaker sees a Windhover bird, hovering still in the air as the wind keeps him afloat. What stood out with this poem was the playing with sounds that was done. There is an enjambment which breaks the word kingdom in half. I do not recall ever seeing any enjambments that split words in half but the effect here is that it adds more alliteration since the rest of line 2 mostly begins with d. There are so many of the same harsh sounds being used here it seems to intentionally push those bounds for the sake of being experimentational or original. The back to back sounds create a tongue twister out of long winded and non-rhythmic descriptors. These over the top descriptions are similar to many of the praises of God you would find in a psalm. So this poem draws a similarity to psalms in sound and structure which have the same theme of being odes to God. This poem relates the image of the windhover hawk to the splendor of god since the hawk which is an example of god’s creation is so magnificent and harmonizes with the world so well by floating on the wind which is another creation. The drawn out and honestly confusing descriptors that we see in this poem all contribute to that message of awe which can be applied to God as the first line of the preface “to Christ our Lord” would suggest.