Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins

· Voices of Today · Narrated by Denis Daly
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1 hr 30 min
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Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins


Narrated by Denis Daly


During his lifetime, Hopkins, who was ordained as a Jesuit priest, was best known as a scholar and a teacher of languages. In his youth he composed poetry prolifically, but detroyed all his juvenile work in 1867. In 1874 he commenced writing poetry again, but little of his verse was published in his lifetime. His work was rescued from obscurity by his friend and supporter, Robert Bridges, who later became poet laureate.


Hopkins' reputation as a ground breaking poet developed rapidly after Bridges published a collection of Hopkins' verse in 1918. Today he is considered to be one of the most innovative poets of the Nineteenth Century and a major influence on such important figures as T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas and W. H. Auden.


Hopkin's verse is notable for its striking imagery and use of a unique rolling metrical structure, which he called sprung rhythm. Many of the themes in his poems are drawn from associations with the pentitential religious practices to which he regularly subjected himself, and the tone of many of his best known works is introspective and melancholy.


Production copyright 2021 Voices of Today

About the author

Gerard M. Hopkins was born on July 28, 1844 in England, into a large and talented family. He attended Oxford, and entered the Jesuits in 1868. He later studied theology and, after destroying much of his youthful poetry, took up writing. In 1877, Hopkins was ordained as a priest. He was assigned to several churches and continued to write poetry, none of which was published until after his death. Hopkins's poems are noted for their intricate rhythm, which he labeled sprung rhythm. The poems are exemplified by their clever puns, wordplay and imaginative phrasing. His works include several series of sonnets, such as Pied Beauty and The Windhover, as well as "terrible" sonnets that explore the conflict between his sexual longing and his devotion to God. Gerard M. Hopkins died of typhoid fever on June 8, 1889, in Ireland. Denis Daly is a professional narrator, located in Perth, Australia.

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Narrated by Denis Daly