Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Major Works

Gerard Manley Hopkins who was mostly unknown during his lifetime is now recognised as the creator of some of the best and most intricate poems ever written in the English language. In his first significant work The Wreck of the Deutschland Hopkins—a Victorian poet Roman Catholic convert and Jesuit priest—pioneered a radical style of metre he called sprung rhythm. Hopkins commitment to the Jesuit methods of meditation and spiritual self-examination as well as his belief in the idea that people were made to glorify God are both reflected in this poem as well as the majority of his other works. With its unique language and phrasing sensitivity to alliteration assonance and consonance Hopkins poetry is unorthodox.