Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins is positioned in a unique place in time. He is generally seen as a transitional writer, moving from the Victorian Era to the Modern Era. “Gerard Manley Hopkins is the most modern of Victorian poets, and the most Victorian of modern poets” (773). He lived his entire life during the reign of Queen Victoria. Early in his life, Hopkins trained as a graphic artist. He had strong religious views and seeked the cosmic meaning of things. Hopkins intended to be a painter but changed his focus once he got to college and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1866. He trained to be a Jesuit Priest. This did not go over well with his family because they had been Protestants for generations. During his training he burned all his previous poems, deciding that they were too worldly and out of step with his new focus. As a priest, he taught classes at the university in Dublin and helped out within the community. Unfortunately he contracted typhoid doing his social work, and this led to his death at the age of 44.

Hopkins began to write his poems again following a disaster in December, 1875. The Wreck of the Deutschland commemorated the death of three fleeing nuns from Germany trying to escape persecution. It could not even be published during his lifetime because it was too far from what was expected. Hopkins viewed poetry as a spiritual and religious exercise, and the more difficult the exercise was the greater the experience was. Hopkins did not receive his just credit during his lifetime, but he has been revered as a great writer since.