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Portrait of Gerard Manley Hopkins

ENG 463: The Victorian Period

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Mike Cappelletti

Introduction

Biography for Gerard Manley Hopkins from Wikipedia (available online):

• Wikipedia entry: Gerard Manley Hopkins

Topics

All topics are based on chapter titles of Sally Mitchell's Daily Life in Victorian England (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996).

Class, Tradition, and Money

An early draft of the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem The Handsome Heart

Gerard Manley Hopkins was the son of Catherine and Manley Hopkins, an insurance agent and consul-general for Hawaii based in London. He was also the oldest of eight children. In terms of his own life as a priest, this was realistically his only occupation. Almost all of his poems were not published while he was alive, but rather, through the efforts of Robert Bridges.

In terms of tradition, it is the place to look at Gerard Manley Hopkins and the tradition of priesthood—or, more directly—the ways in which he contradicted a few critical aspects of being a Jesuit.

For starters, Hopkins always felt a strong conflict with his position as a man of the church and his passion for poetry. It is often noted that upon his decision to become a Jesuit, he burned most of his early poems. This is something that weighed heavily on him, internally more than expressively through his writings.

His poem, The Handsome Heart does exhibit some characteristics of this internal conflict, however:

But tell me, child, your choice; what shall I buy You? Father, what you buy me I like best.’ With the sweetest air that said, still plied and pressed, He swung to his first poised purport of reply.

What the heart is! which, like carriers let fly— Doff darkness, homing nature knows the rest— To its own fine function, wild and self-instressed, Falls light as ten years long taught how to and why.

Mannerly-hearted! more than handsome face— Beauty’s bearing or muse of mounting vein, All, in this case, bathed in high hallowing grace…

Of heaven what boon to buy you, boy, or gain Not granted?—Only … O on that path you pace Run all your race, O brace sterner that strain! ^[1]

In her novel, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Victorian Catholicism: A Heart in Hiding, author Jill Muller also examines the internal struggle that weighed on Hopkins throughout his time as a priest and poet. It is of particular interest to note that this conflict did not end with his trepidation over a balance of a living a both a pious and artistically free life. Muller draws attention to the fact that, “Hopkins was not alone in turning to religious ritualism to express and suppress unconventional sexuality,” ^[2].

At that time it is believed that, “many Anglo-Catholics like Hopkins ‘consciously disciplined’ their homoerotic impulses,” through their close male-male relationships that were a part of the church—this, along with rich subtext from many of his poems, leads to Muller’s ultimate conclusion that, “Hopkins possessed many of the characteristics ascribed to [being a] homosexual,” ^[3]. While, at the time, homosexuality was never an explicit, obvious part of Hopkins’ life—it has surfaced over the course of time as an accepted and true portion of who he was.

Working Life

Being himself a priest, Hopkins had a unique perspective on the working-class present in the Victorian Period. In particular, he was very observant of the working-class male, and the physical embodiment of its ideals. Evaluating the working-class man was a common method of critical observation in Victorian writing (especially in the late 1800s), but what is different for Hopkins is his embodiment of divine power in the varying types of working-class men.

During his time as a Jesuit, Gerard Manley Hopkins kept a constant poem despite his personal rejection of poetry writing during his early years of priesthood

“Since the male body, especially the working-class male body, has such potency, vitality, and, it has to be said, no uncertain danger in Hopkins’s aesthetics, it is worth tracing his extended meditation on Christ’s baptism a little further, for his “Retreat Notes” place considerable pressure on the perceived tension between the powerful laborer and the sacrificial lamb.” ^[4]

Ultimately, Hopkins has to come to terms with the fact that many of his idealized figures do not hold up to the biblical archetypes to which they are held.

In the sonnet, “Felix Randal,” (Hear it sung here)Hopkins addresses this predicament:

“Thy tears that touched my heart, child, Felix, poor Felix Randal; How far from then forethought of, all thy more boisterous years, When thou at the random grim forge, powerful amidst peers Didst fettle for the great grey drayhorse his bright & battering sandal!” ^[5]

“In other words, Hopkins indicates that there is a problem in allowing the image of the working man to take on such size and stature. Only when the priest has mastered Felix Randal’s body can he remain with the physical power of one who formerly shod ‘the great grey drayhorse’.”^[6]

In looking at the religious implications introduced here in his perspective on the working-class male, it is impossible to ignore the fact that Hopkins himself was a Jesuit priest. While this is something that will get addressed later in the Religion portion of this page, it’s worth noting here to help explain his hard stance in addressing this conflict.

Science and the Urban World

“The growth of scientific knowledge [in the Victorian period] had a major impact on the way people thought about the world,” (84)^[7].

Hopkins is no different in this respect.

As a major Victorian author, he produced several poems with thematic elements related to natural topics involving scientific thought. While Hopkins was always considered to be ahead of his time in terms of his style of writing, it is also his choice to write about topics such as this, which makes people continue to say he was vastly ahead of his time as a writer.

Writer Gaymon L. Bennett, Sr. addresses Hopkins and his relationship in his writing with nature and its theological implications.

Here is another poem by Hopkins that addresses the Fall and Spring seasons, or, his preoccupation with nature and the laws of the Earth.

“Yet, while he imagines the Earth as existing prior to a human ‘beholder,’ he places humans in the natural environment. In doing so, he depicts humans in the environment as responsible, not only for despoiling and destroying it, but for participation in saving it … Most of Hopkins’ contemporaries were more interested in religious controversies than in nature. And those who wrote about nature tended to rhapsodize romantically about it or co-op it for religious use … The poems are forward-looking also in regard to the placement and role he assigns to humans in what is often considered the non-human environment …” (166).^[8]

The Hopkins curtal sonnet, Pied Beauty is itself an exploration of the beauty of nature, despite its overly obvious theological aspects:

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim; Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings; Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough; And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim. ^[9]

The Hopkins poem, Pied Beauty is also a commentary given the dramatic shift into the Industrial Revolution. It’s a reminder of nature as still being important, despite its insignificance to the rise of Industry. Overall, this ties in with Hopkins as a solitary figure in presenting the importance of science—through his method of accepting science as absolute truths.

Government and the Law

This was the 2nd Pattern for the crests that constables and sergeants of Gateshead Borough Police wore on their headgear during the later Victorian period.

The government and law during the Victorian Era saw great change across the board. "By 1837, the monarchy had taken its modern form," Mitchell writes. "Formally, the queen selected the prime minister--but in actuality, her choice was determined by Parliament's political leaders. She was always kept informed of government business, but she no longer had any real power except for the moral and symbolic influence she was able to exercise," ^[10]

The extent of both Gerard Manley Hopkins’ involvement and discussion of the government and law in the Victorian Period is extremely limited. Hopkins was far more interested in his observations on nature and its relationship to both individuals and the overarching theological aspects of the time period.

One strong aspect of his life related to government and the law was through his father, Manley Hopkins. In 1856, Manley was appointed the consul-general in London for Hawaii (recommended by his own brother).

“Manley held his Hawaiian position for thirty years … He was not a typical Victorian colonialist, yet his appointment was made partly in order to ‘counterbalance the influence of the U. States here’; and he helped in the English-French-American subordination of a friendly people. He became the force behind the establishment of an Episcopal church in Honolulu…” (18-19)^[11].

In all sincerity, the silence of Gerard Manley Hopkins about Hawaii, given his father’s position, is telling of his feelings: both poetry and his role as a priest were forms of rejection to areas involving government and the law.

House, Food, and Clothes

The introduction to this chapter in the Mitchell book succinctly sums up the Housing, Food and Clothing issues together during the Victorian Period: “Like almost everything else in Victorian times, people’s houses, furniture, food, and clothing reflected their class and income …” ^[12]

This was a typical living environment/situation for most of the population during the Victorian Period.

For Hopkins, his position as both a Priest and a poet was unique to these changing ideals at the time. On one hand, Hopkins would be a part of the rising middle-class of the Victorian period. He was also a part of the large portion of the population who did not own their own homes (Aristocrats and the gentry were typically the only ones who owned homes). On the left is a picture of a typical grouping of middle-class “dwellings” that larger parts of the population lived in. For Hopkins, he lived at the housing provided either by his church, or the different schools he taught at (Mt. St. Mary’s College (in Sheffield), Stonyhurst College (in Lancashire), and University College in Dublin.

An image of University College Dublin. This is one of the schools Hopkins taught at. It was a Catholic school run by Jesuits.

One of Hopkins' poems (A Habit of Perfection), however, shows that he did have some influence come into his work from this aspect of the Victorian period. “Hopkins’s spirituality was grounded in the experience of the senses,” ^[13]. In fact, Hopkins’ pre-occupation with senses most likely contributed to his work on this poem. In fact, Hopkins took this strong persuasion to write about his senses, and in this particular poem, he uses that interest to explore the types of issues that were a very large aspect of private life in the Victorian Period: poverty & food, marriage, and living conditions.

Palate, the hutch of tasty lust,

Desire not to be rinsed with wine:

The can must be so sweet, the crust

So fresh that come in fasts divine!

Nostrils, your careless breath that spend

Upon the stir and keep of pride,

What relish shall the censers send

Along the sanctuary side!

O feel-of-primrose hands, O feet

That want the yield of plushy sward,

But you shall walk the golden street

And you unhouse and house the Lord.

And, Poverty, be thou the bride

And now the marriage feast begun,

And lily-coloured clothes provide

Your spouse not laboured-at nor spun. ^[14]

Family and Social Rituals

“The family—made up of a father, mother, and children living together—was increasingly idealized during the Victorian period,” (Mitchell 141). Such a theme presents a distinct conflict when you take a look at Hopkins’ life with his family.

As mentioned before, it is telling that Hopkins never once chose to write about his father’s important and influential role for the government. It is just one of many things one can point to in order to show his feelings of isolation from his family. In addition to this, there is also the fact that Hopkins sought to leave his family and be on his own from the first time he was actually able to. Most people lived with their parents for much longer than Hopkins chose to. So it is obviously telling that he made this choice.

He was the oldest of eight children. “When Hopkins was eight years old, his family moved to Oak Hill, Hampstead which was a suburb of London popular amongst artists,” (9)^[15]. It offered easy access to both the city of London and the beautiful country land surrounding it.

This is an image of a traditional Victorian-Period wedding.

But the most important influences in terms of Hopkins’ life did not come from his family (the only one that one could cite would be Hopkins’ father’s brief attempts at art). Instead, Hopkins’ time at Oxford took its place as a mechanism for both motivation and intent on his journey towards a career. At Oxford he converted to Roman Catholicism, and was shortly thereafter granted access to the Catholic Church in October of 1866 (he was 22 years old at the time (9-10)^[16]. For most other men his age, they would return home to help his parents and younger siblings. Hopkins instead went down his own road, alone, and never looked back.

Hopkins did write about the social ritual of marriage, however, even if he never participated in one (an image of a traditional Victorian-period wedding can be seen at right).

This is his poem, “At the Wedding March”

GOD with honour hang your head,

Groom, and grace you, bride, your bed

With lissome scions, sweet scions,

Out of hallowed bodies bred.

Each be other's comfort kind:

Déep, déeper than divined,

Divine charity, dear charity,

Fast you ever, fast bind.

Then let the March tread our ears:

I to him turn with tears

Who to wedlock, his wonder wedlock,

Déals tríumph and immortal years.^[17]

Education

The chapter on Education in Mitchell's book begins with a very acute summation of education during the Victorian Period: "Children in Victorian England were educated in many different ways--or not at all--depending on their sex and their parents' financial circumstances, social class, religion, and values," ^[18]

This is Balliol College (in Oxford) where Hopkins' writing continued to grow and become more of a central part of his life.

Hopkins' educational timeline is simple enough: Around 1854 (when he was 10), Hopkins attended the Highgate School in Hampstead. This is where he first began writing poetry. Then when he was 19 (1863), Hopkins enrolled in Balliol College. He was extremely happy in the early years of college and loved the enviroment he found himself in there. Everything about his daily life at Balliol appealed to him. His writing flourished in this environment and led to other major events in his life. .”^[19]

One of these is that shortly thereafter his time at Balliol, he coverted to Catholicism ... and then taught as a Jesuit until 1870 or so. It is easy to see what a profound impact Hopkins' opportunity to goto school had on his life.

Here is one of the earliest poems that Hopkins wrote during his early years of school:

I BEAR a basket lined with grass;

I am so light, I am so fair,

That men must wonder as I pass

And at the basket that I bear,

Where in a newly-drawn green litter

Sweet flowers I carry, -- sweets for bitter.

Lilies I shew you, lilies none,

None in Caesar's gardens blow, --

And a quince in hand, -- not one

Is set upon your boughs below;

Not set, because their buds not spring;

Spring not, 'cause world is wintering.

But these were found in the East and South

Where Winter is the clime forgot. --

The dewdrop on the larkspur's mouth

O should it then be quenchèd not?

In starry water-meads they drew

These drops: which be they? stars or dew?

Had she a quince in hand? Yet gaze:

Rather it is the sizing moon.

Lo, linkèd heavens with milky ways!

That was her larkspur row. -- So soon?

Sphered so fast, sweet soul? -- We see

Nor fruit, nor flowers, nor Dorothy^[20]

Health and Medicine

Perhaps the easiest connection that can be made to Hopkins' life and the topic of Health/Medicine is the simple truth that his father outlived him. Hopkins only lived to be 45 (he died of typhoid fever). Hopkins also suffered from depression throughout most of the later parts of his life. It is widely known that on his deathbed, he spoke quietly his last words: "I am so happy. I am so happy." Despite the fact he had been ill and in bed sick for many years before his death, his last words spoke about his satisfaction. This contributes to the theories of his manic depression and disillusionment during the last years of his life.

Mitchell writes about typhoid fever as being one of the more common "fever" illnesses during the Victorian Period. "Epidemics of typhus and typhoid appeared from time to time ... [typhoid fever] was an intestinal disease spread by contaminated food or water." ^[21]

Holidays, Sports, and Recreation

Little information can be found to connect Gerard Manley Hopkins to either leisure, holidays, or sports.

Free time in Victorian Society can be attributed to the development of Gerard Manley Hopkins and his career as a poet. Music, writing and reading were all "leisure activities" that many privileged members of society were often granted easy access to. Hopkins was fortunate enough to be able to have this type of access, and it cannot be overlooked as perhaps his greatest influence on his journey toward becoming a poet. While the most popular form of reading was, "mass literature,"^[22] the influence of this creativity still can be correlated to his passion of poety writing.

"Hundreds of women and men made a good living as professional writers; some grew very rich."^[23] Such was not the case for Hopkins, however. As stated before, the writing in demand at the time (and, in turn, which provided the most money for those writing it) was fictional and non-fictional writing, but not poetry. Novelists began pounding out new works, and the more popular writers (ie Charles Dickens) were in great demand. There was, obviously, published poetry at the time, too. But as stated previously, Hopkins' work was not published until after his death.

Religion and Reform

The Victorian period marked a critical time period for religion. Accoring to a National count on Sunday, March 30th 1851, around 60 percent of the people who were able to do so, attended church services.^[24]

Obviously, there were many other religions and these denominations were often known as "Dissenters" or "Nonconformists" (these included, but were not limited to: Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Unitarians, and Quakers).^[25] Religious reform became a central theme of the Victorian period--as it helped lead to various reforms in other aspects of the society.

In terms of Gerard Manley Hopkins, religion was a crucial part of his journey during his lifetime, too. As noted above, it is easy to see the turning point in his life came at his decision to first study under, and later become, a Jesuit priest. It was during this time that he struggled as a writer with his passion of writing poetry. On one hand, it was very difficult for him to lead two lives as both a priest and an aspiring poet. But on the other hand, both had always been strong influences and desires in his life, and it was hard to ignore them.

This is an image of the Church of St. John the Evangelist -- a church in Canada which is a good approximation of a Catholic church in the Victorian Era where Manley Hopkins would spend a great deal of his time.

Hopkins' poem, "God's Grandeur":

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.^[26]

Morality

"The phrase 'Victorian morality' is often used with contempt. It has come to imply prudery, hypocrisy, sexual repression, and rigid social control." ^[27] Something that played a key role in this definition during the Victorian Period was the understanding of sexuality for both men and women. For women, they were expected to be rather uneducated about sex, and remain absolutely in the dark until they married a man. For the men, it was not the exact opposite, either. Men were expected to uphold general practices of sexual respect towards women. One example was this is how men, for the most part, remained silent to others about their sexual relationship(s). This is, most likely, where the common phrase, "A gentleman never kisses and tells," comes from. In addition to several of these more, "unspoken" aspects of the typical Victorian morals, there were more definite literal ones, too. For instance, women were not supposed to walk alone, because they would be perceived as a prostitute. The image below and to the right depicts this understood rule of the Victorian period.

For Hopkins, however, his situation in regards to Victorian morality was very unique. There is strong speculation and even stronger evidence to enhance claims that the Jesuit priest and poet was, in fact, gay. These claims are typically led because of his repetitive descriptions of the male face, and also just men in general. These descriptions were, most often, painted in a delicate, feminine light.

"The Great Social Evil"^[28]

Here is one poem, "The Bugler's First Communion," that has been pointed to as an example of evidence of Hopkins' homosexuality:

A BUGLAR boy from barrack (it is over the hill

There)—boy bugler, born, he tells me, of Irish

Mother to an English sire (he

Shares their best gifts surely, fall how things will),

This very very day came down to us after a boon he on

My late being there begged of me, overflowing

Boon in my bestowing,

Came, I say, this day to it—to a First Communion.

Here he knelt then ín regimental red.

Forth Christ from cupboard fetched, how fain I of feet

To his youngster take his treat!

Low-latched in leaf-light housel his too huge godhead.

There! and your sweetest sendings, ah divine,

By it, heavens, befall him! as a heart Christ’s darling, dauntless;

Tongue true, vaunt- and tauntless;

Breathing bloom of a chastity in mansex fine.

Frowning and forefending angel-warder

Squander the hell-rook ranks sally to molest him;

March, kind comrade, abreast him;

Dress his days to a dexterous and starlight order.

How it dóes my heart good, visiting at that bleak hill,

When limber liquid youth, that to all I teach

Yields tender as a pushed peach,

Hies headstrong to its wellbeing of a self-wise self-will!

Then though I should tread tufts of consolation

Dáys áfter, só I in a sort deserve to

And do serve God to serve to

Just such slips of soldiery Christ’s royal ration.

Nothing élse is like it, no, not all so strains

Us: fresh youth fretted in a bloomfall all portending

That sweet’s sweeter ending;

Realm both Christ is heir to and thére réigns.

O now well work that sealing sacred ointment!

O for now charms, arms, what bans off bad

And locks love ever in a lad!

Let mé though see no more of him, and not disappointment

Those sweet hopes quell whose least me quickenings lift,

In scarlet or somewhere of some day seeing

That brow and bead of being,

An our day’s God’s own Galahad. Though this child’s drift

Seems by a divíne doom chánnelled, nor do I cry

Disaster there; but may he not rankle and roam

In backwheels though bound home?—

That left to the Lord of the Eucharist, I here lie by;

Recorded only, I have put my lips on pleas

Would brandle adamantine heaven with ride and jar, did

Prayer go disregarded:

Forward-like, but however, and like favourable heaven heard these. ^[29]

England and Empire

The "Age of Empire" in England from 1875 to 1915 was marked by the powerful countries in Europe continuing to build their Empires. England, like many of these other powers, created a stronger feeling of, "national importance."^[30]

One aspect of this that could have affected Hopkins was the missionary explorations conducted by many religious societies at the time. Hopkins did not participate in any of these, however.

This aspect of the Victorian Period, in fact, did not have a great bearing on Hopkins' life or career as either a Jesuit priest or poet. There is little to no information available that could connect him with this topic. It seemed to affect a portion of the society that did not include Hopkins, and in general he seemed to be isolated from all aspects of the exploration and building conducted during the Age of Empire.

References

1. ↑ Hopkins, Gerard Manley. “The Handsome Heart.” Poetry X. Ed. Jough Dempsey. 21 Jul 2003. 15 Mar. 2007
2. ↑ Gerard Manley Hopkins and Victorian Catholicism: a heart in hiding by Jill Muller 2003 Routledge New York, NY p.24
3. ↑ Gerard Manley Hopkins and Victorian Catholicism: a heart in hiding by Jill Muller 2003 Routledge New York, NY p.24-25
4. ↑ MacKenzie, Norman H. The Later Poetic Manuscripts of Gerard Manley Hopkins in Facsimile. New York, NY: Garland Publishing, 1991.
5. ↑ Hopkins 11-14
6. ↑ Bristow, Joseph. "'Churlsgrace': Gerard Manley Hopkins and the Working-Class Male Body." ELH 59.3 (1992): 701.
7. ↑ Mitchell, Sally. Daily Life in Victorian England. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996.
8. ↑ Bennett, Gaymon L. "Forest Development in North America Following Major Disturbances." Dialog: a Journal of Theology 42.2 (2003): 161-166.
9. ↑ Hopkins 2-6
10. ↑ Mitchell 87
11. ↑ White, Norman. Hopkins: A Literary Biography. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1992.
12. ↑ Mitchell 109
13. ↑ Muller 73
14. ↑ A Habit of Perfection by Gerard Manley Hopkins
15. ↑ Saville, Julia F. A Queer Chivalry: The Homoerotic Asceticism of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Charlottesville and London: The University Press of Virginia, 2000.
16. ↑ Saville, Julia F. A Queer Chivalry: The Homoerotic Asceticism of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Charlottesville and London: The University Press of Virginia, 2000.
17. ↑ At the Wedding March by Gerard Manley Hopkins
18. ↑ Mitchell 165
19. ↑ Phillips, Catherine. "'Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Major Works." Oxford University Press: Oxford. 1986.
20. ↑ For a Picture of St. Dorothea by Gerard Manley Hopkins
21. ↑ Mitchell 194
22. ↑ Mitchell 233
23. ↑ Mitchell 233
24. ↑ Mitchell 239
25. ↑ Mitchell 239
26. ↑ 'God's Grandeur."
27. ↑ Mitchell 259
28. ↑ '"The Great Social Evil"
29. ↑ The Bugler's First Communion by Gerard Manley Hopkins
30. ↑ Mitchell 273