Not Exactly Juvenile

Decided to read my Oxford edition of The Major Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins from cover to cover, instead of just dipping in as I've been doing since I acquired it a few years back. The verse is arranged in what the editors hope is chronological order which means I've been steadily moving through the early stuff. I suppose Wreck of the Deutschland is seen as Hopkins explosively finding his mature voice. But it's fascinating to realise just how good he was even in the early days - though there are clunkers in there. Having said that, there are fine lines and striking phrases even in the stuff that doesn't really work.

I mean, just listen to this: The hoarse leaves crawl on hissing ground / Because the sighing wind is low. Not bad, eh? In fact the whole poem, Winter with the Gulf Stream, is a gem - though the line, So like a berg of hyaline is a bit painful for these ears. Odd that he uses hyaline as a noun here - and odd to go for such a recherché term at all.

All in all, a great place for a young writer to steal from.