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Devotional Elements In The Poetry Of Gerard Manley Hopkins

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Title of the Paper: “The Manifestation of devotional elements in the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins” Author’s Name:-Dr. Kamal J.Dave Designation: Associate Professor (Dept. of English) Name of the Institution: Municipal Arts and Urban Science college, Mehsana (North Gujarat) Postal Address: A-304, Divyajivan Heights, Near Swaminarayan Dham, DholeshwarMahadev Road, Kudasan. Gandhinagar-382421. Email: kamal_tirth@yahoo.com Contact No.: 9427319279 Abstract: Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) was held to be a priestly metaphor of Victorian Poetry and a syntactical simile of Modern Poetry. He had prophetically been in search of the “authentic cadence” that paved the way for his spiritual fulfillment. Hopkins motivation is to know God; therefore, …show more content…

He had prophetically been in search of the “authentic cadence” that paved the way for his spiritual fulfillment. Hopkins motivation is to know God; therefore, he crafts his poems in forms. For Hopkins, everyone is, in a small way, the image of God. The essence of Christian devotion is the total submission to the Will of God who, infinitely perfect and blessed in Himself, created man out of His free will and make him share His own blessed life. As a Jesuit, Hopkins was bound by the Jesuit order to follow his mission. G. M. Hopkins is a poet who uses his craft as a means to relate to God. He sees God everywhere; "The world is charged with the grandeur of God" (God's Grandeur, 1) Hopkins motivation is to discern God; therefore, he crafts his poems in forms. After all, God is manifested in forms -the forms of an insect, the form of a flower, a fish, a bird, a planet or a human being. For Hopkins, everyone is, in a small way, the image of God. He noted in his notebook of 1882; "God’s utterance of himself in himself, is God the word, outside himself is this world. This world then is word, expression, news of God. Therefore its end, its purpose, its purport its meaning is God and its life or work to name and praise …show more content…

‘Mounted in the scarlet’ he saw the world and worded it in his poems, never blurring its hard actuality, but never debasing to mere actuality its ultimately mysterious news of God. As an "incomprehensible certainty" he reverenced God, and in his best works every aspect of poetic language incarnates without limiting that inscrutable yet intensely distinct mystery that formed the center of his life and faith.” Thus, from the very initial stage of his poetic journey Hopkins has searched out the authentic cadence of life that is, Love is God, and God is Love. Thereafter, this biblical cadence - "God is Love (cfJN 3.16) - nurtures Hopkins’ thoughts and emotions throughout his life. He exclaims with delight; “Love I was shewn upon the mountain side And bid to catch Him ere the drop of day See, Love, I creep and thou on wings dost

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