Hopkins refers to a “year” of “done darkness.” 1885 marks this year, the year Hopkins wrote “[Carrion Comfort].” For Hopkins, 1885 includes “encroaching derangement” that consumes him (Harris 12). Harris calls Hopkins’ situation “a recurrence of...
The City fuels Hopkins' sense of failure. The City provokes him to lose faith in himself and Humankind. Hopkins’ lack of faith in Humanity leads to feelings of inadequacy in his vocation. A Priest must focus on his fellow man’s spiritual...
Speaking of his “Terrible Sonnets,” Gerard Manley Hopkins suggests in a letter that “if ever anything is written in blood one of these is” (Bridges 219). The poems recount Hopkins' tumultuous examination of the pain and ambivalence that defines...