I've been taking notes on all of Gerard Manley Hopkins's poems and fragments of poems to work out what his main preoccupations were when writing. I am taking into account recurring subjects (birds, trees, natural beauty), his main objectives (praising God, reflecting on God's creative power, despair when feeling separated from God), as well as how the rhymes and rhythms he chose add to the meaning he was trying to portray. He was a very innovative poet, inventing words for his poems, and concocting new poetic theories to master his art.
The BBC has done an excellent job of making his life and work very accessible.
One of his poems, Inversnaid, is well explained. You can get a sense of some of the unusual vocabulary that he uses. Words like "darksome," "twindle," "heathpacks" especially interest me because he invented them. Were you able to understand their meaning before reading the definition? There is even a video with the poem being read aloud.
I've been busy studying and reading, so I haven't had as much time to update this blog as much as I would have liked. I would love to include your comments, ideas, inspirations.
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