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Hopkins was born in 1844 in Essex. When he was 22, he became a Roman Catholic and was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1877. He served in the slums in Liverpool, which he described as a “hellhole” and later in Glasgow too.
When he became a priest, he decided that he should burn all his poems and devote his life exclusively to God. No more poetry! After a while, though, a senior Jesuit advised him to start again, seeing the unhappiness his decision had given him. He started again, but died before people recognised just how great a poet he was.
Hopkins suffered from depression for a lot of his life, something that can be seen in a lot of the poetry of his that you will study.

Here is some brief information about the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins that is on your course.

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More detailed information can be found further down the page.

God’s Grandeur.

In this poem, Hopkins considers how the world is full of God’s power and beauty and even though people damage it, it always is beautiful because of the power God has.

 As Kingfishers Catch Fire.

This poem is about God and spirituality, like a lot of Hopkins’ poems. In it, he talks about how everything in creation is doing God’s will, is reflecting God’s beauty.

Spring.

A poem about nature but also about how its beauty can be tainted by sin.

 The Windhover.

A “Windhover” is a large predatory bird. This poem is about the wonder Hopkins feels while watching one fly and hover one morning.

Pied Beauty.

A poem about the beauty in all things created by God.

 Felix Randall.

Hopkins was a priest. In this poem he writes about the death of a sick man he had tried to look after.

No Worst, There Is None.

Hopkins suffered from depression. This poem was written about hopw tortured he was by his illness.

  I Wake And Fell The Fell Of Dark, Not Day.

Another poem about Hopkins’ mental illness and the anguish it caused him.

 Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord.

Here, Hopkins asks God why it is that people who do bad things are happy and healthy while he, who only does good, has such a hard life.

 Inversnaid.

A poem about a waterfall Hopkins visited in the Highlands in Scotland.