Felix Randal the farrier, O he is dead then? my duty all ended
The speaker is a parish priest, and the poem opens with his learning that a parishioner has died after a long battle with what circumstances external to the text indicate is tuberculosis. The priest first reacts almost callously, asking casually, "O is he dead then?" before reflecting on how his duties as a spiritual advisor to the man have ended.
Sickness broke him. Impatient he cursed at first, but mended
Being anointed and all
Felix Randal was a farrier, meaning he both smithed horseshoes and tended to horses' hooves by cleaning, trimming, and maintaining them. The speaker describes Felix as "big-boned and hardy-handsome," so by this and his occupation, the reader can pick up on the man's power and pride.
“Impatient” today is relegated to connotations of restlessness and lack of tolerance, but at the time of composition it swayed closer to its more archaic meaning, closer to "intolerant." So, the speaker is suggesting that upon first becoming sick and experiencing the more extreme symptoms, Felix Randal's first reaction was to curse his inevitable death because he found the idea of his death intolerable, a circumstance that was only transformed through the spiritual assistance of the speaker doing his priestly duty.
Pining, pining, till time when reason rambled in it, and some
Fatal four disorders, fleshed there, all contended?
The repetition of the word "Pining" here emphasizes the sorrow with which Felix regarded his death. That echo is carried out in the assonance and consonance that follows; Hopkins uses "t," "r," and "f" sounds repeatedly, and "contended" sounds just enough like "in it" for the ear to pick up on it. Reason begins to "ramble" in this "mould of a man;" this particular description shows how Felix had no control over his illness. The "Fatal four disorders" likely refer to the four bodily humors—blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm—but also may refer to the four wounds of original sin as described by St. Thomas Aquinas: ignorance, malice, weakness, and concupiscence (or lust).
though a heavenlier heart began some
Months earlier, since I had our sweet reprieve and ransom
Tendered to him.
Here the speaker reflects on the way the illness both broke Felix's spirit but also, in the end, offered him a clearer sense of spirituality. An archaic obsolete meaning of "ransom" is used; the word refers to the delivery from sin and is more akin to redemption than to its most common contemporary definition. The speaker reflects on how his communication with Felix led Felix to develop a "heavenlier heart."
Ah well, God rest him all road ever he offended!
Here the speaker invokes an archaic definition of the word "offended," which is to transgress or to violate. When the speaker says "all road ever he offended," he means any path Felix wrongly took.
This line is tinged with resignation; the speaker sends well-wishes after Felix but realizes there is nothing more he can do for the man.
This seeing the sick endears them to us, us too it endears.
My tongue had taught thee comfort, touch had quenched thy tears,
Thy tears that touched my heart, child, Felix, poor Felix Randal;
These lines comprise the emotional heart of the poem. Here the speaker's veneer of stoicism breaks apart, and he reflects upon the transactional nature of his relationship with Felix. Not only did he touch Felix, but Felix touched him as well; the speaker sees himself through Felix's eyes and recognizes how important he was to Felix in his final months. The speaker mourns Felix directly, repeating his name and thinking of him as a "child." His care for Felix and his sorrow at his death are apparent.
When thou at the random grim forge, powerful amidst peers,
Didst fettle for the great grey drayhorse his bright and battering sandal!
The poem closes with the speaker returning to images of Felix in his prime. In doing so the speaker practically enshrines Felix; as all of his other duties have expired, the last thing he can do for Felix is remember him as he would want to be remembered. The rhythm of the last line in particular pays homage to the rhythm of the smithing hammer; the speaker uses emphatic syllables and monosyllabic words so they sound like Felix battering the hoof of a horse.
