I love the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. He’s difficult. One critic says that a sign of excellence in a poet is the number of different ways you can read his work. By that measure, Hopkins is a great poet. But Hopkins is worth the effort it takes to read and understand him.
Paul Mariani, a poet himself, has just published a big new biography of Hopkins. Read a review here. Hopkins’ poetry is all online at bartelby.com. You can also read much background and criticism about Hopkins on Victorian Web.
Here’s one of my favorite Hopkins’ poems. It’s called “Peace.”
WHEN will you ever, Peace, wild wooddove, shy wings shut,
Your round me roaming end, and under be my boughs?
When, when, Peace, will you, Peace? I’ll not play hypocrite
To own my heart: I yield you do come sometimes; but
That piecemeal peace is poor peace. What pure peace allows
Alarms of wars, the daunting wars, the death of it?
O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu
Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite,
That plumes to Peace thereafter. And when Peace here does house
He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo,
He comes to brood and sit.
Sign up for dotMagis updates in an RSS reader
Sign up for dotMagis updates by e-mail
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Another measure might be something that is rich enough in levels to pull in not only me, but my 12 year old (who picked a Hopkins poem to write about for a class assignment because it was short, then got entranced with the language, particularly the coined words).
Pied Beauty is one favorite of mine.