Sunday, October 7. 2007
The Revelations of Gerard Manley Hopkins
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Read, speed, heed the verse, under-
stand the terse quick tumult of His
wending ways. Hopkins! Praise!
(But don’t get carried away and try to imitate his style. I am told it can sound silly.)
stand the terse quick tumult of His
wending ways. Hopkins! Praise!
(But don’t get carried away and try to imitate his style. I am told it can sound silly.)
This came at a time when I was thinking about Hopkins. When I lived in Iowa and had very little to do, I took the time to study his poetry. It’s a happy coincidence to me that you wrote about this now.
R—
I love the denseness and surprise of Hopkins’s (for his time) unconventional rhythmic clustering—as you point out—the dialectical word-play, the intense, compressed musicality. the alliteration—whoa—that drives his lines along. Kevin Young does this, in his unique, contemporary way, methinks.
i just rejoined a nearby episcopal parish choir. there are several pro singers and the repertoire is challenging, sophisticated. lots of Bach, Renaissance madrigal music, etc…it felt like as good a practice to take on in service to my writing as anything else, you know?
i’ll put Hopkins on my list…
M
I love the denseness and surprise of Hopkins’s (for his time) unconventional rhythmic clustering—as you point out—the dialectical word-play, the intense, compressed musicality. the alliteration—whoa—that drives his lines along. Kevin Young does this, in his unique, contemporary way, methinks.
i just rejoined a nearby episcopal parish choir. there are several pro singers and the repertoire is challenging, sophisticated. lots of Bach, Renaissance madrigal music, etc…it felt like as good a practice to take on in service to my writing as anything else, you know?
i’ll put Hopkins on my list…
M
M—
That’s great! Nothing like embodying the rhythms in song to get the mind tuned up for poetry. Even singing in the shower helps me.
Hope your semester continues to go well.
Best,
Robert
That’s great! Nothing like embodying the rhythms in song to get the mind tuned up for poetry. Even singing in the shower helps me.
Hope your semester continues to go well.
Best,
Robert


