"The World is charged with the grandeur of God."
"Glory be to God for dappled things –"
"Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend"

Religion was very important to Gerard Manley Hopkins, who was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1877. This was true in both his life and in his poetry – the above lines are from the beginnings of a few of Hopkins's most famous poems ("God's Grandeur," "Pied Beauty," and "Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord, If I Contend"). In fact, the majority of what we consider his greatest poems were actually written during the twelve-year period just after his ordination and until the time of his death from typhoid in 1889.

From the inventive and passionate rush of his language in "Spring" and in his other works, you can tell that Hopkins didn't experience his spiritual life in a calm, simple way. In poems like "Spring," God and the lushness of creation are felt with the force of a lightning strike.

And, as we see in "Spring," being a priest did not mean that Hopkins felt certain about everything, or that all his questions were answered. In fact, Hopkins allowed all manner of questioning to enter his poems. "Spring" deals with many of Hopkins's main concerns: awe, wonder, and praise of the beauty of the natural world; sin and the possibility of being saved from sin; and anguish and lack of understanding when it comes to the ways of the universe and God.

Coming soon!