Poetry was not something I was ever really interested in. I’d try to read it, and frankly, I’d get bored. The words on the page were confusing to me, and I didn’t ever seem to get the point of what was being said. I understand that poetry is hard for a lot of people, but for some it can delightful. Recently, I took the time to read some of Gerard Manley Hopkins poems and I was surprised to find that even though it took me a few times of reading and listening to them, the meaning behind them and the way he used words to express that meaning was fascinating.
Who Was Gerard Manley Hopkins?
Gerard was born an Anglican in London, England in 1844. Influence heavily by St. John Henry Newman; he converted to Catholicism in 1866. After his conversion, he entered the Jesuits Order and was later ordained as a Catholic Priest in 1877. He taught Latin and Greek in Dublin, Ireland, before dying in 1889 of typhoid fever.
Most surprisingly, his work was never published during his lifetime but was gathered and published after his death.
There are fewer than 40 poems that are considered Hopkins ‘best work’. As I discovered him, I started with three of what some might call his best work: “God’s Grandeur”, “Pied Beauty”, and “As Kingfishers Catch Fire”.
Although absolutely nothing can compare to the beauty and treasure of Sacred Scripture, Gerard Manley Hopkins’ Poems are certainly a treasure that allow us to reflect on the beauty of Creation and the responsibility that we have towards it. I wanted to reflect on two of his poems that I read.
Gerard Manley Hopkins' Poem: "God's Grandeur"
The poem begins with the famous line, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God”.
This struck me – I had always thought about how we were trusted with God’s creations, but never quite thought about it in the sense that we are actually in charge of protecting and preserving God’s grandeur. It makes sense, in every way, but was just a different way of presenting the same truth.
The poem continues on to say that we have been charged with it, we continue to mess it up. the poet writes “Generataions have trod, have trod, have trod.” emphesising that we continue to mess up as our ancestors before us.
The poem concludes with a beautiful segment reassuring us that no matter wha humans do or how corrupt we get, God’s glory will continue to prevail. Hopkins uses the unique approach of talking about God in the third person of the Trinity, which leads the reader to deeper reflection.
Gerard Manley Hopkins' Poem: "Pied Beauty"
“Pied Beauty” is a poem praising God for all the things of creation. What stood out to me, was that he was praising God for the tiniest and messiest of details that we often don’t stop to think about. He also talks about how things can be fickle, freckled, or any number of other things, and they still are ‘fathered’ from God.
The line that struck me most in this poem was the last two lines:
“He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: Praise him.”
It serves as a gentle reminder that although the world changes, God does not. And he is worthy of praise for the things he has created. I think that we may be good at thanking him and praising him for the things we find beautiful (sunsets, mountains, the ocean, etc.), but when it comes to things that might be smaller, obscure, freckled, or fickle, are we praising him with that same guesto?
In Summary
Hopkins has given me a taste into the world of poetry that I did not have before. I was unsure of what I’d find when I dove into it, but I truthfully love what I have found.
I will be honest that I was skeptical even after the first couple of times I read through the poems (Or listened to them), but after sitting with them a while, I can understand why people like this way of using words to express the world around them.