(Untitled)

[ghazalah]

For Stephen, in the garden of the Lord
Pulo Prabang, 1813

Beneath all the physical tension there was an even greater happiness than before, that of a fulfilment that had gone beyond any anticipation, and of something not far from the beatific vision.

--Thirteen Gun Salute

God's GrandeurThe world is charged with the grandeur of God

Comments

[ann_septimus]

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

I love this end. He spends 2 stanzas glorifying everything and it all wraps up in something he cannot even contain in a statement but must interject with a final burst of unfettered excitement.

Thank you for this little bit of joy in my day!

[ghazalah]

I'm finally learning to like Hopkins. I was a devoted Hopkins Hata for years. *shrug*

I still owe you a bunch of joy, in return for the music! *smooch*

[cruisedirector]

One of my favorites! *sighs happily*

[ghazalah]

YAY!

*sings*
Cruisey wrote in my jourrrrrnallll!
Cruisey wrote in my jourrrrrnallll!

I've never been a fan of his, but I've been giving him another look lately. Don't you find that poets wander in and out of your life? Sometimes they make no sense, or are completely opaque: then they're suddenly perfect.

Hm.

But I still don't like Rocky, no matter how many times I see it. ;-)

[cruisedirector]

I would be happy to write in your journal but you post so little personal gossip and rants and the usual natter! *g* And I don't like 'Rocky' either, particularly. Hopkins, however, I have liked since the first time I read "Goldengrove."

[ghazalah]

I save my natter for cluttering up other people's journals! :-D

I'm teasing, Cruisey. This place is 100% ornamental. No comments needed. It's just a thrill to see you! *smooch*

[sparowe]

That just... quietly gets me. Wow. :)

[ghazalah]

Thought you'd like it. :-)

Maybe you already knew this, but Hopkins was a Jesuit.

[ann_septimus]

I go to a jesuit university and our Honors program house is named Hopkins House. The junior colloquium for the program used to be a semester of exploration of GMH's work... I'm not sure if I feel cheated or blessed to now be required to take Philosophy of Electronic Culture instead. Hee.

[ghazalah]

Philosophy of Electronic Culture?? Bzuh??? Toward a Gendered Meta-Ethics of LiveJournal and the Trans-Cultured Signifiers of Figured Anonymity. ? ???

The old rector of my church, Phillips Brooks, wrote "O Little Town of Bethlehem", so we have to sing it a lot every Christmas. I don't like that song, and I never will. But like studying Hopkins in Hopkins House, the dues must be paid. >_

[darketherdream]

I have read it a second time, and feel a little comfortable with it now. I was shocked at the use of unexpected words, and I had to get used to them. Now I will go looking for other Hopkins poems.

[ghazalah]

Some editions show his verse with the syllable accents marked out. It's disturbing. O_o

[darketherdream]

what do you mean, marked out? How odd, that they vary things.

[ghazalah]

Like this:

Mónths éarlier, since Í had our swéet repríeve & ránsom
Téndered to him. áh well, God rést him áll road éver he offénded!
This séeing the síck endéars them tó us, us tóo it endéars.

Annoying. Weird. It's the usual manner of printing Hopkins, and has a lot to do with my avoiding him over the years. O_o