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Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) was an English poet and a Jesuit priest. His poems show deep religious faith and a love for nature. Although he lived in the Victorian age, many of his poems contain romantic elements. The Romantic poets, like Wordsworth and Keats, focused on nature, imagination, strong emotions, and the beauty of simple life. Hopkins also believed that nature is a mirror of God’s glory. In Hopkins’s poem, we find strong emotions and love for variety in nature, which are all romantic qualities. Let us now comment on the romantic elements in Hopkins’s poetry.
Love for Nature: One important Romantic element is love and admiration for nature. Hopkins, like the Romantic poets, deeply loved nature. In “Pied Beauty” (written in 1877), he praises God for the variety and colours in nature. He begins the poem with:
“Glory be to God for dappled things —”
He praises God for creating the sky with mixed colours, spotted cows, and the dots on swimming trout (a kind of fish). He also praises the red-brown fallen chestnuts and the beautiful wings of finches. He sees beauty in farmlands. So, Hopkins carefully observes small details in nature and finds joy in them. This love for nature is a strong Romantic element.
God in Nature: For the Romantic poets, nature was not just a thing of beauty. They found deeper meaning in nature. Hopkins found God’s glory in nature. In “The Windhover” (1887), Hopkins sees a falcon flying in the sky. He describes the falcon’s beauty and power as it flies. It is riding the wind. It dives, glides, and turns beautifully in the air. The poet depicts it as the morning’s favorite and the prince of daylight.
…Morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin…”
Hopkins sees the majesty of God’s creation in the beauty of the bird. In this poem, Hopkins shows how something beautiful in nature can make us think about God.
Strong Personal Emotions: Romantic poetry is full of deep emotions and personal feelings. Hopkins’s poems also show strong emotions when he sees nature or thinks about God. In “The Windhover,” Hopkins’s heart is deeply moved when he sees the falcon. As he says:
“My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird…”
This shows his personal excitement. Again, the poet feels deep sorrow about Felix Randal. Felix became ill and died suddenly at a young age. The poet says Felix’s tears “touched my heart.” This deep personal emotion is a Romantic element.
Imagination and Imagery: Romantic poets often used imagination and rich imagery to create beautiful pictures in the reader’s mind. Hopkins also uses vivid images and imagination to make his poems colourful and lively. In “Pied Beauty,” he uses the images of dotted trout fish, red-brown chestnuts, and spotted cows. In “The Windhover,” he imagines the majestic flight of the falcon. So, like the Romantics, Hopkins’s poems also have imagination.
Interest in Common Life: Romantic poets praised simple, everyday life and ordinary people. Hopkins also shows interest in common life and people. In “Felix Randal,” he writes about a blacksmith who falls sick and dies. Hopkins describes Felix as:
“Big-boned and hardy-handsome…”
Hopkins shows love and respect for Felix’s simple life and work. This is similar to the Romantic poets’ interest in common people.
In conclusion, Hopkins’s poems show many romantic elements. In his poems, we find Romantic elements like love for nature, strong emotions, imagination, interest in simple life, and spiritual feelings connected to nature. His poems are full of romantic spirit, energy, and faith that touch the hearts of readers.
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