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A Heart Lost in Wonder: The Life and Faith of Gerard Manley Hopkins (Library of Religious Biography
Gerard Manley Hopkins, one of the most beloved English-language poets of all time, lived a life charged with religious drama and vision. The product of a High-Church Anglican family, Hopkins eventually converted to Roman Catholicism and became a priest—after which he stopped writing poetry for many years and became completely estranged from his Protestant family.
A Heart Lost in Wonder provides perspective on the life and work of Gerard Manley Hopkins through both religious and literary interpretation. Catharine Randall tells the story of Hopkins’s intense, charged, and troubled life, and along the way shows readers the riches of religious insight he packed into his poetry. By exploring the poet’s inner life and the Victorian world in which he lived, Randall helps readers to understand better the context and vision of his astonishing and enduring work.
A Heart Lost in Wonder provides perspective on the life and work of Gerard Manley Hopkins through both religious and literary interpretation. Catharine Randall tells the story of Hopkins’s intense, charged, and troubled life, and along the way shows readers the riches of religious insight he packed into his poetry. By exploring the poet’s inner life and the Victorian world in which he lived, Randall helps readers to understand better the context and vision of his astonishing and enduring work.
208 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 28, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 29, 2025
A brilliant and heartbreaking biography of a monumental poet. Throughout the biography, Randall weaves in Hopkins’ poems, many of which I had read before. But she provides context and a depth of meaning to the poems that was completely new. I will never read Hopkins the same.
May 2, 2022
Brevity is not always an attribute. Some very short introductions can be too short. But in this instance 130 pages of text is enough to provide us with the context of GMH's poetry without labouring the analysis of the poems or blow-by-blow details of his short life (difficult in any event given the amount of material burnt first by Hopkins himself, and then by the Jesuits after his death).
This is a sympathetic biography written with empathy but not excessive pathos. GMH comes across as a morbidly religious young man whose decision to become first a Catholic and then a Jesuit ultimately seems to have pulled him into the caverns of mental illness and ultimately an early death. I have wondered before why GMH isn't always included in the same category of the English priest-poet such as Donne and Herbert and I realise that his commitment to the Jesuit order really did make him something different. His poetry, so intense, so filled with synaesthesia (to use Randall's word) is quite different to the earlier Metaphysical poets. There feels something quite cruel about the way in which Hopkins, so at home with nature and so nourished by creation, is pulled to the industrial hells of the Nineteenth Century - north Derbyshire, Liverpool, Glasgow and Dublin. How would his poetry have developed had he lived out his days in a country parish in Hampshire or Wiltshire? The final chapter on the Terrible Sonnets and Hopkins' descent into terrible psychological darkness is a hard read.
The poetry is not extensively analysed, aside perhaps from the Wreck of the Deutschland. I would like to have had a little more explanation of Sprung Rhythm, which still puzzles me. The connection of inscape and instress with Scotist philosophy makes a lot of sense and it is probably just as well that Randall didn't go into too much detail on that score. Just one very odd slip up at the beginning. Randall oddly mentions that early on Hopkins met both Keats and Swinburne. Meeting Swinburne is evidently believable, but the only way that Hopkins could have met Keats would have been through a seance. Keats was long dead by the time that Hopkins was born. It's an odd slip that I can't believe was either a typo or a lacuna of knowledge. It should have been picked up in the editing process.
This is a sympathetic biography written with empathy but not excessive pathos. GMH comes across as a morbidly religious young man whose decision to become first a Catholic and then a Jesuit ultimately seems to have pulled him into the caverns of mental illness and ultimately an early death. I have wondered before why GMH isn't always included in the same category of the English priest-poet such as Donne and Herbert and I realise that his commitment to the Jesuit order really did make him something different. His poetry, so intense, so filled with synaesthesia (to use Randall's word) is quite different to the earlier Metaphysical poets. There feels something quite cruel about the way in which Hopkins, so at home with nature and so nourished by creation, is pulled to the industrial hells of the Nineteenth Century - north Derbyshire, Liverpool, Glasgow and Dublin. How would his poetry have developed had he lived out his days in a country parish in Hampshire or Wiltshire? The final chapter on the Terrible Sonnets and Hopkins' descent into terrible psychological darkness is a hard read.
The poetry is not extensively analysed, aside perhaps from the Wreck of the Deutschland. I would like to have had a little more explanation of Sprung Rhythm, which still puzzles me. The connection of inscape and instress with Scotist philosophy makes a lot of sense and it is probably just as well that Randall didn't go into too much detail on that score. Just one very odd slip up at the beginning. Randall oddly mentions that early on Hopkins met both Keats and Swinburne. Meeting Swinburne is evidently believable, but the only way that Hopkins could have met Keats would have been through a seance. Keats was long dead by the time that Hopkins was born. It's an odd slip that I can't believe was either a typo or a lacuna of knowledge. It should have been picked up in the editing process.
May 2, 2020
A Heart Lost in Wonder by Catharine Randall is part of the far ranging Library of Religious Biography. Gerard Manley Hopkins poetry is unique and memorable, full of vivid images, but I knew little about his career as a priest or his life and how it affected his poetry.
Hopkins viewed everything through his faith, finding the divine in every tree and mountain.
Hopkins developed a personal and unique philosophy to explain the power of beauty in this world through the lens of faith. The draw of beauty was so powerful, he believed it might eclipse the divine. He would go weeks with his eyes fixated on the ground in self-denial.
Drawn by the traditions of the Catholic church he converted and he believed he was called to the priesthood.
It seems like the absolute wrong choice that Hopkins would become a Jesuit--in effect, an itinerant teacher. I can personally attest that no one can who has not lived it can fully comprehend the sacrifices of itinerary, to be removed from a place that feeds one and set in a place that kills one's soul.
A perfectionist, he the work of grading papers and teaching wore Hopkins out and allowed no personal time for his poetry or an internal life.
He responded to the beauty of Wales and the rural assignments but the cities with their poverty and ugliness were soul-destroying. He denied himself poetry but rhapsodized in his journals.
Randall's book delves into the theologies that inspired Hopkins and shows how to interpret his poetry through the lens of his faith. I am not Catholic and I am not deeply familiar with Newman or Loyola but she presents them very well.
It is very interesting, but difficult to comprehend Hopkin's unique view of poetry. Cooper discusses the poems as vehicles for Hopkins's theology.
Hopkins suffered a faith crisis in his later life and died an early death.
I enjoyed the book but do not feel I could comprehend it in one reading. It is dense and deserves a deeper study.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
Hopkins viewed everything through his faith, finding the divine in every tree and mountain.
Hopkins developed a personal and unique philosophy to explain the power of beauty in this world through the lens of faith. The draw of beauty was so powerful, he believed it might eclipse the divine. He would go weeks with his eyes fixated on the ground in self-denial.
Drawn by the traditions of the Catholic church he converted and he believed he was called to the priesthood.
It seems like the absolute wrong choice that Hopkins would become a Jesuit--in effect, an itinerant teacher. I can personally attest that no one can who has not lived it can fully comprehend the sacrifices of itinerary, to be removed from a place that feeds one and set in a place that kills one's soul.
A perfectionist, he the work of grading papers and teaching wore Hopkins out and allowed no personal time for his poetry or an internal life.
He responded to the beauty of Wales and the rural assignments but the cities with their poverty and ugliness were soul-destroying. He denied himself poetry but rhapsodized in his journals.
Randall's book delves into the theologies that inspired Hopkins and shows how to interpret his poetry through the lens of his faith. I am not Catholic and I am not deeply familiar with Newman or Loyola but she presents them very well.
It is very interesting, but difficult to comprehend Hopkin's unique view of poetry. Cooper discusses the poems as vehicles for Hopkins's theology.
Hopkins suffered a faith crisis in his later life and died an early death.
I enjoyed the book but do not feel I could comprehend it in one reading. It is dense and deserves a deeper study.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
October 13, 2021
I didn't expect much from this little book. How good can a biography be, that short and with those few words on a page? But with dense detail and well-chosen prose it adequately limns Hopkins's inscape, goes to the centre of him. You could work your way outward from there, once you know the heart of the man.
November 25, 2020
I’ve never forgotten the wise counsel I received from a mentor early in my pastoral life: read more poetry. He had no idea how much poetry I was reading (little) yet assume there is room for more. Among the various poets I’ve read for over thirty years, Gerard Manley Hopkins is always in rotation. Early I joined the great chorus quoting with joy, “the world is charged with the grandeur of God/it will flame out like shook foil” and never stopped saying what seems so utterly true and necessary to announce. Catherine Randall has done a great service with her book which goes deeply into the experiences that shaped Hopkins. We learn of his struggles with sexuality, his ultra-devotion to God that not only influenced his controversial conversion to Roman Catholicism but drove him to various ascetic practices. Randall provides the biographical context for poetry, and helpfully describes the theological grounding that gave rise to Hopkins embrace of the particular beauty of all living things. Many readers will be startled by the details of his life. Pastors will appreciate Hopkins struggle to remain faithful to his pastoral vocation under duress, especially on the brink of despair. We have a portrait of man deeply devoted to Christ and to the search for full expression of that in the actual world of creation. In the end we discover, “the cosmic Christ Gerard had sought and loved in nature was now his great friend returned to him in fellowship.” Not surprisingly, during the pandemic of 2020 many people found a new love for creation. Birdwatching, hiking, walking all increased. We yearn for a renewal of our place in the community of creation. Hopkins the poet-pastor knew this more deeply than most. With a heart lost in wonder he is one of the premier theologian-poets proclaiming the glory of God. Read him.
May 10, 2022
Summary: Brief biography of a Catholic Priest/Poet who was only published posthumously.
I am not a very good poetry reader. I appreciate poetry theoretically and enjoy the technical work of the poet. I am fascinated by the rhyme schemes and structure. I believe in how poetry forces us to think and process words that have multiple meanings. However, I just do not read poetry as much as I should because it takes more work and time. But that very work and time is part of why I theoretically appreciate poetry even if I do not practice what I value theoretically.
Gerard Manley Hopkins is one of those Christian poets that, if you have a little bit of knowledge of his poetry, you will see references to it all over the place. Several of Eugene Peterson's book titles are references to his poetry. And many other modern authors also reference his lines of poetry. Hopkins died young. He converted to Catholicism against his family's wishes in the mid 19th century as a young man. He fairly quickly became a Jesuit priest, following in the steps of John Henry Newman.
Gerald Manley Hopkins loved writing but also was conflicted about his writing because he thought, at times, it distracted him from his devotion to God. At least once, Hopkins destroyed a significant amount of his poetry. And his Jesuit order destroyed a significant amount of his poetry at his death. After his death, his friend Robert Bridges and others published his poetry, often collecting it from letters.
Hopkins was influential in changing meter and rhyme in English poetry. And he uses evocative imagery. So, where A Heart Lost in Wonder is helpful is introducing Hopkin's poetry. There are biographical details here, but less than I would have preferred. And while the book did introduce his poetry and frequently referenced it. But I do not have a lot of background in his poetry, so I think I just connected less to the book because I did not know the poetry well enough.
The Kindle edition is still only $4.99 as I am posting this. It is part of the Eerdman's Library of Religious Biography series. I generally really like the series, but I think this was one of the weaker editions.
October 7, 2025
“It just may be that our present day and age is, in fact, Gerard’s best audience. Perhaps we are those with eyes to see and ears to hear, who will accompany Gerard further on his road. In a strange, paradoxical way that Gerard himself surely could never have anticipated, readers of the present day are often people more willing to perceive divinity in the numinous, in nature, in art.”
April 15, 2021
A bit of a Disappointment
I wanted to like this book, but I couldn't get into it. Perhaps its because I don't much about Hopkins' poetry. The book really didn't hold my interest. It felt laborious reading. The writer had some interesting points, but anyone not familiar with Hopkins would likely to feel lost.
I wanted to like this book, but I couldn't get into it. Perhaps its because I don't much about Hopkins' poetry. The book really didn't hold my interest. It felt laborious reading. The writer had some interesting points, but anyone not familiar with Hopkins would likely to feel lost.
April 29, 2022
the title says it best
I highly recommend reading this book alongside a chronological collection of Hopkins’ work. It is a beautifully and thoroughly put together biography of a great poet, a scrupulous priest who wrestled with severe mental illness.
I highly recommend reading this book alongside a chronological collection of Hopkins’ work. It is a beautifully and thoroughly put together biography of a great poet, a scrupulous priest who wrestled with severe mental illness.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews