Gerard Manley Hopkins Research Paper

Feelings or Fiction?Lavallee

Gerard Manley Hopkins once wrote, ?That nothing can be old or borrowed however cannot be.?1 He is a poet that is considered to have written classic poetry for religious and nature poems. Hopkins believed that all poets should have some originality. His originality was the writings of the beauty from God. Hopkins? art was his outlet. The power of his poetry was created by a mix of his personality and his religious characteristics. Gerard Manley Hopkins? natural ability to write in a way no other writer could was affected by his conversion to Catholicism in someways good and others bad. In 1844, ?the greatest Victorian poet of religion, of nature, or of melancholy?2 was born at Stratford, Essex, England. Gerard Manley Hopkins was born to a middle class family and was the oldest of eight children. His father, Manley Hopkins, had a passion for writing and he was known to go out of the way to learn something new. This is a trait that was passed onto Hopkins, and contributed to his successful writing career. Hopkins? whole family had a great influence

He ?lived the life of a disciplined community.?10 Hopkins was known by other Jesuits as ?a man of intellectual brilliance and high academic attainments, with a likable but highly-strung personality.?10 His mission at this time was to teach Catholicism to two areas of England, and work towards their sanctification. Priesthood was very hard on Hopkins. He felt that all the tasks he had to complete were very arduous and tiring. He often moved around to many different parishes. Hopkins was very dedicated to his parishioners. Any priestly responsibility always came before anything else. In 1870, Hopkins started to teach at St. Mary?s Hall, Stonyhurst. Here, his view on God and nature began to change. His tasks started becoming too much and was overwhelming