A Victorian Jesuit Poet
28th July 1844 - June 8th 1889
Born eldest of 9 children, schooling Highgate, 1863,
scholarship Balliol College Oxford, and was converted to
Catholicism by John Henry Newman in 1866. In 1867 he was
awarded First Class degrees in Classics and Greats (a rare
double first).
He became a Jesuit and burnt all his early poems as he
felt that the practice of poetry was too self-indulgent.
He began writing poems again after studying the writings
of Duns Scotus, a medieval Catholic thinker.
In 1874 he studied theology in North Wales and learnt
Welsh. He was ordained and served as a preacher or
assistant to the parish priest in Sheffield, Oxford and
London. He was parish priest in Manchester, Liverpool and
Glasgow and after three months of spiritual study in
London he taught classics at Stoneyhurst College,
Lancashire.
In 1884 he went to University College Dublin as Professor
of Greek and Latin. He became very depressed partly
because of his work load of exam marking and more
importantly his belief that his prayers no longer reached
God.
Many of his best and most mature poems were written while
he was in Ireland, for example "On the Portrait of Two
Beautiful Young People" is about people from Monasterevin.
"Happy the father, mother of these! Too fast:
Not that, but thus far, all with frailty, blest
In one fair fall; but, for time's aftercast,
Creatures all heft, hope, hazard, interest."
Gerard Manley Hopkins' time in Ireland 1884-1889 he was
a frequent visitor to the Cassidy family of Monasterevin
House and wrote to Robert Bridges . Quote from this letter
"I am staying with some kind people in a nice place"
and speaking of people in Monasterevin "they made no
secret of liking me and want me to go down again"
He died of typhoid fever in 1889 but his last words were
"I am happy, so happy", he is buried in the Jesuit plot in
Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin
Gerard Manley Hopkins' poems will always be among the
greatest poems of faith and doubt in the English Language.
The Annual International Summer School held for around 10
days during June or July in Monasterevin and celebrates
the life and work of the poet. Activities include poetry
readings, lectures, workshops, an art exhibition and a
concert. All are welcome. Contact the Gerard Manley
Hopkins Society.
The statue by the distinguished sculpture James McKenna
commemorates Gerard Manley Hopkins' connection with
Monasterevin.
Gerard
Manly Hopkins
