Poems and Prose Paperback – Import, December 30, 1953

Gerard Manley Hopkins is perhaps best known for three poems, all dealing with nature and the reverence due to God for what he has created. Not that one should expect less from a priest who renounced poetry (by burning almost all of his previous writings) when he entered the Society of Jesus and swore that he would never write again, unless his superiors agreed to it. (It is not difficult to see why Thomas Merton identified with Hopkins so much.) Hopkins was not appreciated in his lifetime since his poetry was published posthumously in 1918, and he has fallen by the wayside today, not readily recognized as a top poet. Yet Hopkins holds a unique place between the Victorian and Modern literary worlds that few others hold. The poems in this volume speak to his unique talent for language and rhythm and the sheer joy he took in delighting in the Lord's creation of the world around him.A great number of Hopkins' poems center around the beauty of nature, with the poet praising God for what he has created. His best-known poems "Pied Beauty", "Spring and Fall", and "God's Grandeur" are testiments to this. Yet Hopkins was not afraid to explore the darker side of his nature, the doubts and fears he experienced even though he was a priest, through a poem like "Carrion Comfort" where the poet can find little to no heavenly solace for his trials and tribulations. Hopkins delighted in creating new words, compound words that compacted lines into neat poetic rhythm and played with the notions those words were meant to represent. He also relied heavily on sound, as evidenced by his reliance on alliteration and stressing words in unusual places. Hopkins' poems are meant to be read and enjoyed aloud.Penguin Classics' "Poems and Prose" of Gerard Manley Hopkins is an excellent collection of the writer's work. Hopkins' poems are definitely not easy to read or necessarily to understand, as they can often be full of references to things a modern audience may no longer be familiar with. However, there is something downright magical in his use of rhythm and repetition that make his poems come to life and linger in the reader's mind long afterwards.

I first bought this book in the mid sixties when I was fourteen. It entranced me. Hopkins could gather words on a page that invoked exactly what he was seeing. His crafted poems communicate a vision of nature and life itself. As a prized book, it accompanied me everywhere, but was finally lost on my world travels. Since then I have bought (and passed to others) several more copies.This volume also contains a selection of Hopkins' prose, which logs the poet's personal development, his struggles and triumphs, his keen observation, and his warmth and humour.What Hopkins communicates is a healthy, soul-enhacing vision of life--in contrast to his older contemporary, Nietzsche, who instead left to us posturing declamations, which have nourished fascists and other self-assertors from then till now.So, for a contrasting and good direction in life, one which is deeply humane, I recommend this book--with its intense revelation of the freshness deep down in things.

Aside from William Shakespeare, I have discovered that I like this poet better than almost any other poet in the English language. He is a Catholic Jesuit priest having a passionate love affair. His writing is as good and perhaps even better than most of the other English writers. Many of his lines are a challenge to clear understanding. When his poems were first posthumously published in 1918 by Hopkins' friend British Poet Laureate Robert Bridges, nobody including Bridges appreciated their superb qualities. Finally in the 1930's some critics recognized his genius, and today most critics rate him very highly, while few persons even remember who Robert Bridges was. Yesterday I re-read Hopkins' "The Windhover" for the 99th time and again for the 99th time discovered a new aspect in this incredibly rewarding poem. Hopkins uses the beauty found in nature to show the reader the glory of the Creator. By the way, the object of Gerard Manly Hopkins' passionate love affair was God Himself. Don't try reading these poems unless you are willing and prepared to research his words and his meanings.

This is a handsome book and one that I will keep ("Hopkins: Poems and Prose, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1995.) There is only one problem: it is not the one I ordered. I ordered a paperback called "Gerard Manley Hopkins: Poems and prose, selected and edited by W. H. Gardner, Penguin Books, 1953. I particularly wanted a new copy of this paperback since it is a much beloved book and it is falling apart from heavy use when I was in a nineteenth century English Literature class at Hunter College. Someday I will get another one.

There were two English poets who immediately resonated with me as a teenager and who have kept faith with me in all these years. One is John Donne and the other is Gerard Manley Hopkins. Both first met at 14 at the Singapore American School courtesy of a English Literature class, there was an almost electric connection, which if I had been more self-aware would have told me something about my own sense of aesthetics (lacking) and tastes (more intellectual than sensuous).In high school, boarding school and college I think Wreck of the Deutschland was my favorite - when I actually figured out how "sprung rhythm" worked I believe I shouted for joy and did a little dance around my room. Only gradually did I come to appreciate the accuracy of the Windhower, depicted in the sound of the poem. The poems dealing directly with religion however remained a closed door.This lasted until last year, a year of unexpected and devastating loss. And in the worst hours I turned to: John Donne and Gerard Manley Hopkins, and found profound comfort in both, and finally I understood that last, bitter, heartbreaking poem that Father Gerard wrote and learned what it was to "wrestle with (my God) my God" - "Carrion Comfort".