Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

For All This

Topic: Divine Love & Goodness

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins was born on July 28, 1844, in Stratford, Essex, England, into a devout Anglican family. His early life was marked by a keen interest in religion and the arts, nurtured within a creative and intellectual environment. Hopkins attended Highgate School and later Balliol College, Oxford, where he excelled in classics and literature. It was during his time at Oxford that Hopkins converted to Roman Catholicism, profoundly influenced by the works of John Henry Newman, a cardinal and leader in the Oxford Movement. This conversion was a pivotal moment in Hopkins' life, leading him eventually to join the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1868. His decision reflected a deep spiritual calling, with his faith becoming the central pillar of his life and work.

As a Jesuit priest, Hopkins' life was one of spiritual duty and intellectual rigor. He was sent to various parts of Britain for his religious and scholarly duties, which included teaching and parish work. Despite the demands of his religious vocation, Hopkins continued to cultivate his passion for poetry. He developed an innovative style, notably his concept of 'sprung rhythm', a departure from traditional metrical patterns, which gave his poetry a unique musical quality and a vivid sense of natural speech. His poetry was infused with rich imagery and profound spiritual themes, often reflecting his intense observations of nature and deep religious convictions. Hopkins' poetry remained largely unpublished during his lifetime, as he saw his writing as an extension of his religious vocation, meant primarily for self-expression and glorification of God rather than public acclaim.

Hopkins' legacy as a poet was not fully recognized until after his death on June 8, 1889. His friend and fellow poet, Robert Bridges, posthumously published his works, revealing Hopkins' profound influence on the world of Victorian poetry. His poems, such as "God’s Grandeur" and "The Windhover," are celebrated for their innovative use of rhythm, language, and imagery, and their deeply spiritual nature. Hopkins' work bridges the realms of art and faith, presenting a vision of the world imbued with divine presence and beauty. His exploration of nature and religion, conveyed through his unique poetic voice, has established him as a significant figure in English literature and a source of inspiration for readers seeking a deeper understanding of the spiritual dimensions of life and the natural world.

(1844-1889) Christianity
God's Grandeur

Hopkins, Gerard Manley. Poems and Prose of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Penguin Classics, 1985 [God's Grandeur].

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Theme: Divine Love

About This Gerard Manley Hopkins Poem: God’s Grandeur [Commentary]

Gerard Manley Hopkins begins with the world as we know it when life has been overused and dulled: “Generations have trod, have trod, have trod,” and everything seems “seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil.” He sees how easily people lose their feel for what is holy and alive around them. Even “the soil / Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.” That makes the ending of the poem more grounded and more consoling, because he is not speaking from innocence or distance. He is speaking from within a world that feels worn down.

And yet “for all this, nature is never spent.” Gerard Manley Hopkins turns our attention to “the dearest freshness deep down things,” to a life in creation that has not been used up. The movement of the poem is simple and beautiful: after “the last lights off the black West went,” “morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—.” Morning does not merely arrive; it “springs.” In that one word, he lets us feel surprise, energy, and renewal. The poem invites us to notice that even after darkness, something living still rises.

Then Gerard Manley Hopkins gives the reason: “Because the Holy Ghost over the bent / World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.” The world is “bent,” but it is not abandoned. It is still held, still overshadowed, still cherished. “Warm breast” gives the lines their tenderness, and “bright wings” their lift and joy. In the light of Divine Love, the poem says that God’s care remains close to this strained and wounded world, and that this is why morning still springs.

As Kingfishers Catch Fire

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.

I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.

–Gerard Manley Hopkins [Poems and Prose (Penguin Classics, 1985)]

Eugene H. Peterson

The book [As Kingfishers Catch Fire by Eugene H. Peterson] takes its title from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, which Peterson reads as a series of metaphors about congruence. The poem describes the rightness and wholeness found when what one is and what one does are seamless. This collection of sermons by pastor-poet Peterson has that sense of congruence.” –[The Baptist Standard]

“A poem uses words not to explain something and not to describe something but to make something. Poet (from the Greek word poetes) means “maker.” Poetry is not the language of objective explanation but the language of imagination. It makes an image of reality in such a way as to invite our participation in it.”

–Eugene H. Peterson [As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God]

For All This

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