Sárospataki Füzetek 18. (2014)

2014 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Frank Sawyer: Gerard Manley Hopkins: "Christ plays in ten thousand places"

TANULMÁNYOK

I. Introduction

Frank Sawyer

GERARD

MANLEY

HOPKINS

"Christ plays in ten thousand places"

By means of this essay I would like to greet our longstanding colleague, dr. Börzsönyi József, and wish him and his family many blessings. The contribution presented here is not an Old Testament study, which is the area of our colleagues specialty, but the poet presented, while thoroughly Christocentric (also an O.T. concern!) does echo the O.T. themes of the sovereignty of God and the grandeur of creation. Further, in the Old Testament, God walks with his people day by day and throughout history, and that is also an underlying theme of Hopkins worldview. More can be mentioned, such as mankind as divine image-bearer, the centrality of a divine Law- Word for the flourishing of life, and the covenant between God and his chosen people of faith. Our poet assumes these teachings as a life-experience and integrates such views into his craftsmanship. The Hebrew Scriptures are a prerequisite for reading Hopkins.

Hopkins (1844-1889), is important as a theological poet and as an example of creative use of language. His poetry was only made known to the public twenty years after his lifetime, when another poet, Robert Bridges, undertook the effort in 1918. And Bridges noted that Hopkins style is one of “oddity and obscurity”. Indeed, Hopkins challenges the hearer or reader with charged phrases in which the syntax is unusual through use of the delaying of key words in a sentence, while filling his phrases with striking adjectives. In this way the rich meanings of his thoughts are compiled into amazing vistas. His verse is indeed challenging, charged, and amazing, since it is born from intense thought and feeling.

Sárospataki Füzetek 17. évfolyam | 2014 11 81