Gerard Manley Hopkins' collection of poems holds a power and beauty that captivates readers from start to finish. The exquisite language and unique rhythm of Hopkins' writing make each poem a work of art in its own right. His use of imagery and symbolism creates a vivid picture in the reader's mind, allowing them to truly feel the emotions and experiences he conveys.

Throughout the collection, themes of nature, spirituality, and the human experience are explored with great depth and complexity. Hopkins' deep connection to nature shines through in his descriptions of the world around him, painting a breathtaking portrait of the natural world and the divine presence he sees within it.

The poems in this collection are both thought-provoking and emotionally stirring, offering a glimpse into the mind of a truly gifted poet. Hopkins' ability to evoke such strong emotions with his words is a testament to his talent and skill as a writer. Overall, this collection is a must-read for anyone who appreciates beautiful language, deep introspection, and profound spiritual insight. Gerard Manley Hopkins' poems will leave a lasting impact on all who read them.

Book Description:
Gerard Manley Hopkins was one of the most innovative of English Victorian poets, best known now for his vivid and original imagery of the natural world in verses such as “The Windhover” and “Pied Beauty”.

Hopkins was a master of miniaturisation and condensation. His poetry is characterised by freshness, concentrated originality and often unconventional syntax in which words may have multiple shades of meaning. One of his most important innovations was what he called “sprung rhythm”, a style intended to be read aloud in which — like natural speech — the stressed syllables ‘spring’ between a variable number of unstressed syllables, and in which the poetic lines are defined not by number of syllables but by number of stresses.

At the age of 24 Hopkins converted to Catholicism and began training as a Jesuit priest. For seven years he wrote no poetry at all, believing that he was not called by God to do so. This period ended with a concentrated explosion of originality with “The Wreck of the Deutschland”, his greatest and longest poem which is dedicated to the memory of five nuns who lost their lives while attempting the sea passage from Germany to England in 1875. Sometimes considered ‘difficult’ by readers who approach it in printed form, the poem’s outlines become clearer when read aloud. It is divided into two sections, an introductory part in which the poet discourses with wonder on the sudden return of his poetic muse after so many fallow years; and a second part in which he describes with dramatic pace the fate of the ship as it hurtles in the storm and snow to its doom on the Kentish sands. At its heart the poem celebrates, in extraordinarily vivid and imaginative terms, the spiritual vision of a nun whose entire attention is absorbed by Christ even as all around her is chaos and terror.

Most of Hopkins’ poetry was unpublished and completely unknown until nearly 30 years after his death when in 1918 Robert Bridges, his old friend and by then Poet Laureate, brought out this book. Hopkins’ originality was soon recognised, and his verse has had a marked influence on many later poets including TS Eliot, Dylan Thomas, WH Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis.