Gerard Manley Hopkins

After reading the introduction of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s section of this book, I realized that he was a man continuously looking for meaning in the world. I think that he was trying to do this through faith, but his faith kept wavering when he would go through hard times. In the end, I do not think he ever found what he was looking for a in essence died alone in Ireland.

One poem that I felt showed his two sides of religious faith and search to find God’s work in order to restore his faith was “God’s Grandeur”. This poem is divided into three different verses, which I feel reflect three different viewpoints. Its starts by talking about the beauty of God and nature, then it seems like Hopkins is showing a little wavering in faith, and then it ends with that faith restored.

The first verse is reflecting on natural beauty, God, and nature. Hopkins shows his desire to find God in nature by reflecting on what he calls God’s “charge”. It is like God has some sort of electrical current that is seen once in a while through the “shining from shook foil”. When I read this statement, I felt like he has maybe seem some sort of lightning, more specifically heat lightning, and believed it was God communicating with the world. He also asks why man does not believe in this power from all of this proof. This seems like not only is he asking this to others but maybe he is relaying this question to himself and the fact that he lets his faith go.

The second verse talks about how the world is getting continuously moving away from God, “Generations have trod, have trod, have trod”. He believes that the world has finally turned itself completely from God and is more focused on business and personal gain. This verse may reflect Hopkins’s viewpoint when he himself has turned from God. Even though he sees the signs, he continuously fights with his faith when he has to deal with the lifestyle of being a priest.

I think that the final verse restores his faith once more in God and the world. Even though the people may be turning from God, God will never turn away from the people. He uses a metaphor to describe this relationship, “And though the last lights off the black West went/ Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward”. Just like every morning comes once again, so will God. He ends this poem by basically saying that God will restore faith in the world by giving birth to a new, more spiritual world. I think by thinking this way, it gives Hopkins hope especially when he in the bad times of his life.