Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins is known as one of the most modern of the Victorian poets; one could say he marked a transition from the Victorian to the Modern era. He had a talent for words, phrases, rhymes, alliteration, and unusual syntax. In 1866, he converted to Catholicism and went into the priesthood. However, Hopkins battled with his spirituality throughout his life. One can easily read his work and determine whether he was in a period of great praise for God or whether he was struggling in his faith. Hopkins is probably most well known for what he coined, “inscape”, which was an object or an idea’s inner landscape; what made a certain thing distinct. Related to the "inscape" is what he coined “instress”, which both unified the object and brought the "inscape" outward to the observer.

I really enjoyed Hopkins’ Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord. In this poem, he begin with a verse from Jeremiah 12:1, which states “You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” I think this is something that every Christian fights at some point in his or her walk with Christ. Personally, I sympathize with Hopkins in his questioning that if God is sovereign and righteous, why sometimes do the faithful struggle and those that do evil are given happiness? This can be an extremely hard concept for anyone to grasp and I thoroughly enjoyed Hopkins’ account of his honest struggle.

In the first stanza, Hopkins questions God sense of justice. Stating, “Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend/ With thee… and why must/ Disappointment all I endeavor end?” (p. 778). Initially, I wonder what has happened in Hopkins’ life to give him such a pessimistic outlook (I think we are given the reasoning by the end of the poem). But deeper than that is the idea of justice. Hopkins states that the Lord is just. According to a dictionary, Just is the idea of one being “given or rewarded rightly; deserved”. This definition of the word just is not always exemplified in the way God works in our lives. God doesn’t say do “good” and you will thus be given riches. As humans, we cannot justify or comprehend the things that happen to us. Only through an understanding of GRACE can one begin to accept and understand God’s idea of justice.

In the second stanza, we are able to get a better example of Hopkins literary ability. In line 6 we see his use of alliteration, “How wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost” and again on line 12, “Them; birds build—but not I build; no, but strain,” (p. 778).  I struggle with his true meaning behind the analogies and imageries in this second stanza, but I think in the first sentence, “Wert thou my enemy, O thou my friend,/ How wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost/ Defeat, thwart me?” Hopkins is trying to say that God and him have a relationship that he thinks of as a friendship, but he wonders what things would be like if God and him were enemies due to the fact that their friendship has already resulted in struggles. In lines 6-9, Hopkins admits that he lusts and does evil things more than he does things for the glory and honor of God, “Oh, the sots and thralls of lust/ Do in spare hours more thrive than I that spend,/ Sir, life upon they cause” (p. 778).  In the last three lines of the poem, “birds build—but not I build; no, but strain,/ Time’s eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes. Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain," we see that Hopkins is jealous that the birds are given the ability to build, yet he is left in “poetic sterility” (p. 773).  He is utterly depressed with his lack of poetic ability at the present time and is begging God to be just (the worldly definition) and to give him the ability to bring his poetry to life. 

I think this was an interesting poem because he was able to convey his lack of contentment with his writing by connecting it to the idea of Justice. He basically states that God is not being just through the fact that he is withholding Hopkins' literary ability. Through his skepticism of God, the reader is able to see that Hopkins is thoroughly struggling with his faith. I don’t think Hopkins honestly feels as though God is punishing him for something through his writing, but this poem enables him to express the challenges he faces with God.