With his rector’s blessing, Hopkins wrote a sprawling tour de force titled “The Wreck of the Deutschland,” in which he first “realized on paper” the oratorical possibilities of so-called sprung rhythm. As Hopkins would tirelessly explain (in so many words) for the rest of his life, this involved “scanning by accents or stresses alone, without any account of the number of syllables, so that a foot may be one strong syllable or it may be many light and one strong.”
Robert Bridges, GMH's longtime friend and the fellow poet responsible for (finally) getting his poetry to public attention, never quite understood Hopkins's unusual poetic form (which he called "sprung rhythm") and always blamed the Jesuits for, in essence, killing the sensitive poet with overwork.
Hopkins tries to show us that all things are both related and discrete, that all things have material and spiritual value (or inscape) at once. Holding that simultaneity in mind is a momentary grace.
Hopkins worked out his salvation with fear and trembling -- and poetry.
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