24 Carrion Comfort (1885/1918) and God’s Grandeur (1877/1918)

Jesuit priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) was born into a High Church Anglican family on July 28, 1844. He attended Highgate’s grammar school from 1854 to 1863, winning a poetry prize and scholarship that paid for his studies at Balliol College at Oxford University from 1863 to 1867 (Everett). Religion remained a common topic of contemplation for Hopkins, and during his education, he met and was guided by John Henry Newman, an ex-Anglican minister who converted to the Catholic faith. When Hopkins entered the Catholic Church in 1866, Newman administered the sacraments. Two years later, Hopkins joined the Jesuit order and after a decade  was ordained as a priest, which he remained until his death in 1889 (Everett).After becoming a Jesuit, Hopkins struggled with the conflict between a Jesuit’s commitment to the “sacrifice of personal ambition” and his conviction that writing poetry was “self-indulgent” and “individualistic” (Everett). Upon joining the order, he destroyed his early works and refused to write poetry for several years; however, in 1872, he concluded that his religious convictions did not forbid his personal writing (Everett).

“God’s Grandeur” was written in 1877 and “(Carrion Comfort)”^[1] in 1885, but both remained unpublished during Hopkins’ lifetime. Almost three decades after Hopkins’ death, his friend and fellow poet Robert Bridges published his works in a 1918 anthology (Reid). This anthology lacked immediate success, but with the second edition in 1930, “Hopkins’ work was recognized as among the most original, powerful, and influential literary accomplishments of his century” (Reid).

“(Carrion Comfort)” is a grief poem that explores the speaker’s sadness. To begin with, the speaker resists the temptation to “feast on” the personified Despair and shows his struggle against his depression. As the octave continues, the speaker questions God about the reason for his suffering, a common biblical trope perhaps best exemplified in the character of Job. In the sestet, he contemplates the reason for his suffering: namely, the removal of sin and the gaining of “strength” and “joy” (11). However, the speaker struggles to balance despair with hope to the very end of the poem—even his final words, “wrestling with (my God!) my God” (14), suggest a continued tension between suffering and faith.

Inversely, “God’s Grandeur” is an admiration poem reflecting on the titular grandeur of God. In the poem, Hopkins represents God’s power through natural imagery, fire and oil, common biblical symbols for God’s presence. At the same time, the speaker also uses fire imagery to show the harm that industrialization has inflicted on nature. Whereas God’s fiery presence in the burning bush surrounds the plant without destroying it (Exod. 3.1–6), with human industry, “all is seared” (6). However, the end of the poem, hints towards the promise of divine recreation in the face of human destruction.

1. Hopkins initially viewed poetry after his conversion to be too self-indulgent and individualistic. How do the two poems portray the individual and individualism?

2. Both poems are Petrarchan sonnets, consisting of an octave and a sestet. Traditionally, the octave poses a question that the sestet addresses, and between these two stanzas, there is a volta, that is, “a clarification or ‘turn’ of thought” (“Sonnet”). Identify the volta in each poem. What is the effect of this “turn” and how does it unify the stanzas in each poem?