A summary of a classic Hopkins poem ‘Binsey Poplars’ is one of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s best-known lyrics. It was written in 1879 shortly after he revisited the small hamlet of Godstow near Oxford, a few miles north of Binsey, to find that ‘the aspens the lined the river [Thames] are […]
A summary of an underrated Hopkins poem ‘The Starlight Night’ is not a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem whose title is on everyone’s lips. Nevertheless, it’s a vivid example of his idiosyncratic writing style, and its theme – a starry night – is a perennial one for poets. But of course, […]
A summary of a classic Hopkins poem ‘Pied Beauty’ belongs to the middle period of the poetic career of Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89), that period when he had found his distinctive poetic voice but before he became plagued by depression later in his short life. The poem reflects this: ‘Pied […]