Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins is the first collection of his verse, published in 1918, nearly thirty years after his death, by his friend Robert Bridges. Hopkins's innovative rhythms and dense language, unlike anything else in Victorian poetry, made him a major influence on the poets of the twentieth century.
A hidden poet
Hopkins, a Jesuit priest, published almost nothing in his lifetime. He sent his poems in letters to a few friends, especially Robert Bridges.
After Hopkins died in Dublin in 1889, Bridges kept the poems and published a selection in 1918, when he was Poet Laureate.
Sprung rhythm
Hopkins invented what he called sprung rhythm, in which each foot has one stressed syllable and any number of unstressed ones, closer to the rhythm of speech.
He also used compound words, internal rhyme and alliteration, inspired in part by Old English and Welsh poetry.
Nature and wonder
Many poems celebrate the beauty and particularity of nature, which he called inscape: a kestrel in flight, dappled things, a stormy sea.
Spring and Fall, addressed to a young child grieving over falling leaves, is one of his most quoted short poems.
Anecdotes
The Wreck of the Deutschland
Hopkins's long poem on the wreck of a German ship in 1875 was rejected by a Jesuit magazine as too difficult. It opens the 1918 collection.
Burned poems
When he became a Jesuit in 1868, Hopkins burned many of his early poems, and wrote almost nothing for seven years.
Frequently asked questions
When was the collection published?
In 1918.
Who edited it?
His friend Robert Bridges, the Poet Laureate.
What is sprung rhythm?
A rhythm based on stressed syllables, close to natural speech.