In “Pied Beauty,” Hopkins focuses on two key motifs that reflect the themes of the work. The poem’s motifs can be broken down by simply digesting the title of the piece: “Pied Beauty.” The word “pied” refers to objects that possess two or more colors; this can occur in a variety of ways in the natural world, and Hopkins provides several examples of animals and landscapes that are “pied,” such as: “skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow” (Line 2) and “rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim” (Line 3). In these examples, Hopkins describes a sky that is brindled, like a cow and spotted trout. He goes on to describe more instances of natural variation: A “[l]andscape plotted and pieced” (Line 5) is reminiscent of a quilt made of patches, and people or things that are “freckled” (Line 8) possess a sense of uniqueness.