I think it does matter if you read some
lines as having three or five beats---it ruins
the rhythm of the poem. As Tim explained, every
line has four beats, although obviously Hopkins
makes you say some of the words oddly so that you
hear the four beats: Margaret, for example,
which no one would normally pronounce with two
accents. And by the way, the tetrameters are
mostly trochaic---I think only three lines are
not (I'd argue that the penultimate line is marked
to begin iambically but soon returns to trochees,
and the last line, though it begins with the same
two words, is firmly trochaic.) Once you accept
Hopkins' directions, it all sounds just fine, and
it is a gorgeous little thing.
Hey, Tim, greetings.
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