What does /pt/ think about the 19th century poet Gerard Manley Hopkins? Hopkins, who gave up poetry for several years due to his vocation as a priest, is known for such works as The Windhover, As Kingfishers Catch Fire, and The Wreck of the Deutschland. These poems explore both the beauty and violence of nature through an unrepentantly religious lens. His poetry is characterised by a idiomatic and innovative meter which he called 'sprung rhythm'. In aid of this, he took the unusual step of annotating some of his poems with diacritics to indicate the scansion. For some, Hopkins' assonant, alliterative, and decadent poetry ranks head-and-shoulders above his Victorian peers. Others find it cloying, didactic, and even hysterical. A 2019 episode of In Our Time is a good introduction to the life and work of this singular man. > https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003clk Links to selected poems: > www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44402/the-windhover > https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44389/as-kingfishers-catch-fire > https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44403/the-wreck-of-the-deutschland Points for discussion: > Do you have a favourite Hopkins poem? > Was Hopkins' successful at reconciling his faith and his art? > Is it a failing or a virtue for poetry to be ecstatic?
Sprung rhythm is kind of technically interesting but otherwise few thoughts besides his biography (gay priest becomes depressed poet) being a tragic stereotype.