Gerard Manley Hopkins

General Information:

born 1844, died 1889

poetry unknown in his lifetime; often considered a modern poet

Oxford Movement-- led to conversion to Catholicism and some Anglicans becoming High Church (centered at Oxford)

Hopkins born into high church family

Pater and Arnold among his teachers at Oxford

during time he was going through spiritual crisis; Newman's "Apologia..." instrumental in his conversion; Newman received him into the church in 1866

condition that the family relationship would continue if he would not try to convert anyone

became a Jesuit priest-- meant he would always have tension between ascetism and sensuousness of this nature; as part of this commitment, he burned his poetry and did not write for seven years

event that changed that-- "The Wreck of Deutschland": seven nuns die in a shipping accident

writing poetry not a major part of his life

the Jesuits had problems placing him-- finally made a teacher; frail health, teaching a chore

in 1885, he undergoes a crises of some sort or serious (psychological/spiritual) problem; found expression in his "Dark Sonnets"

at age 45, he died of typhoid with nothing (actually little) published; his friend, Robert Bridges, published his works in 1918

his subject matter:

essentially and wholly a religious poet

God is the center of everything and all else is news of Him; his (Hopkins) role is to spread this news

looks back

his style:

looks forward

characteristics:

1. uses older words

2. uses older meanings of words

3. coins words (will compare to a known form)

4. chooses words with multiple meanings (deliberate exploitation of ambiguity-- Dr. Bell's term)

5. compacts syntax

6. uses qualifying adjectives, many in participle form (-ing)-- gives the line greater action because of more verbs

7. refurbishes cliches-- puts a new part in to see it a new way

8. uses lots of sound devices; sprung rhythm-- based on stresses alone

lesson is: find your own voice; language is malleable; you master it

influenced: Cummings

poems which are sonnets

octave-- some observation of natural phenomenon

sestet-- conclusion from which he draws a religious lesson

"God’s Grandeur" (1651)

    1. Read the poem aloud (or ask for a volunteer?).
    2. One might see the poem as part of an argument culminating in ecstatic expression. Note the verb "charged" in the first line. What different meanings might that word have here?
    3. Note the images in the first stanza. Those connected to God are vivid, alive. After them are images connected to humanity which are bland and weary.
    4. Line nine: despite all, nature is never depleted. Why is that?
    5. Line eleven and twelve: one might read this as saying though the sun sets, it rises again each day. But to what does the speaker attribute the sunrise? {With the morning "springs".)
    6. Note the image of God in the final two lines.

"Pied Beauty" (1653)

  1. Read the first line. What does "dappled" mean?
  2. Notice that what is described are mostly imperfect things (perhaps thing that change because of evolution). How can imperfect things be beautiful?
  3. In the next four lines, the sentence continues to say praise God for what? {That which is different.}
  4. What does it mean to say, "He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change"?

    5. "Spring and Fall" (1655)

    1. What does the child grieve over?
    2. What does the speaker say about the passing of seasons? Death?
    3. What does the speaker say Margaret is really mourning for?

 

"[Carrion Comfort]" (1656)

  1. What is "carrion"? How can Despair be a sort of comfort? {Define despair in a Catholic context.} He notes he still had choices.
  2. Who do you think the speaker is addressing the second stanza? What is he asking?
  3. The question seems to continue in the last stanza. He seems to wonder if God is separating his chaff from wheat.
  4. Since he joined the church, he says his heart has "lapped strength, stole joy, would laugh, cheer." Then he asks, "Cheer whom though?" the allusion here at the end is to Jacob wrestling with God. But what is different for the speaker?

    5. "[No Worst, There is None]" (1657)

    1. Describe the speaker’s depression. That is, explain why he is depressed or despairing.
    2. Who do you think he is addressing in lines 3-4? Why is this not much of a comfort?
    3. When the speaker says "mind has mountains; cliffs of fall/Frightful, sheer, no-man fathomed" (9-10), what is he saying?
    4. What does depression or despair have to do with death both literally and figuratively?
    5. What comfort does he find? What do sleep and death have to do with each other?

 
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