Gerard Manley Hopkins

HOMEWORK FOR JANUARY 26/27:
*Read CCCC nos. 1-32 (this is a review of what has been discussed)
*Finish reading the Harcourt chapter.
*Memorize "God's Grandeur" for the Unit 1 exam

CLASS NOTES FROM JANUARY 24/25:
Gerard Manley Hopkins was born in England in 1844 to an Anglican family. He was a poet, Jesuit priest, and convert to catholicism. During his lifetime he was relatively unknown as a poet and it wasn't until the 20th century that his work received the respect it deserved.

Hopkins attended a boarding school as a child and he likely developed his love of literature from his mother appreciation of Dickens and German philosophy. He shocked his friends and family when he converted to catholicism and entered the Society of Jesus. When he entered the society he mistakenly believed that he must suborniate all of his literary interests to his religious vocation as a catholic priest. During his theology studies he began writing again and his friends and peers criticized his work as unreadable and choppy. Throughout much of his life, Hopkins suffered from sickness and bouts of depression and desolation.
Click here to read more about Hopkins's life.

Themes in his work: Hopkins had a profound appreciation for the sacramental character of our world and he believed that it shined for the in witness of the creator (Ellsberg). Ignatian spirituality also influenced his work; e.g. "God in all things" and "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam."