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Ratings: ★★★★★ (4.7/5)
Genre: Poetry / Victorian Literature / Religious Poetry / Prose / Classics

Book Review:
Gerard Manley Hopkins was a Jesuit priest whose poetry was so radical that it remained unpublished until 1918 — nearly 30 years after his death. Today, he is recognized as one of the most innovative poets in English. His “sprung rhythm” (based on natural speech patterns) and coined compound words (“dappled,” “couple-colour,” “fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls”) create a music unlike anything before. This Penguin Classics edition collects his finest poems (“The Windhover,” “God’s Grandeur,” “Pied Beauty,” “Spring and Fall”), along with selections from his letters and journals. Hopkins’ poetry is intense, sensual, and deeply spiritual — a “terrible crystal” illuminating the “inscape” (unique essence) of everything from a skylark to a windhover. Essential for poetry lovers. Closer to Dylan Thomas than Matthew Arnold