How do I introduce GM Hopkins? The man deserves so much acclaim, more than I can give, so I will be brief. Hopkins was a poet and a Christian. He wrote about God and did so beautifully. To miss out on his work is a true shame for the believer, for never outside of the Bible have I heard God more beautifully exalted. It is also if note that Hopkins is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential poets of the modernist era. Here, then, is a short sampling of his work. Enjoy
As Kingfishers Catch Fire
As king fishers 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 What I do is me: for that I came.
I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is --
Christ. 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
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