Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889 / Stratford, Essex)

i like it..it's very nice.

Woah, that April 1 thing is weird.

It's kind of funny that this poem always seems to be posted on the first of April every year based on the dates of the comments.

My first impression of this poem is that I didn't care much for it. I didn't like the rhythm very much, the tone was much too somber.

But after reading it a few times, I feel that it MIGHT grow on me. It has decent imagery and the words emit a humility of some sort. It reminds me of those days where it is gray outside with the smell of rain on the way, but the grasses are bright. Ever line of this poem gives me this mental image, it is slightly haunting.

But, if he ever were to write something 'new' I bet it'd be extremely metaphorical, considering his present state and all! ! !

You're gonna wait a long time Jason he's been dead for over a hundred years.

your so good in writing poems mr. hopkins.
im waiting for more.

Whenever I see a poem posted on this site written by a clegyman or a Christian mystic, I anticipate a response from the village atheist as he goes door to door peddling his noxious wares! Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. was both priest and poet, a gifted writer and a devout believer in a faith that demanded a strong will and the ability to persevere. Of course, one can read Hopkins or Shakespeare and utter as commentary 'So! ? ' What does 'Heaven-Haven' mean to those smug atheists who can sit back and wave a languid wrist at someone who puts his beliefs in well-chosen words the way Father Hopkins does?

The adjectives are few and far between. I count fewer than a baker's dozen - sharp and sided, a few, a green swell in havens dumb, Not one syllable more than is absolutely necessary to evoke the sensuous imagery of a stormy green day in the highlands with the implied comfort of that 'heaven-haven' the speaker desires.
Perhaps it's true as Fiona writes that such yearning is universal, but take note how well Hopkins embodies that abstract longing in vivid language!

Who does not desire to be in a Heaven-Haven....a sample poem of human desire
by the words of the poet

I like this...the occasional desire to retreat is natural but finding somewhere to do it....much more difficult!