Pied Beauty Resources

Audios

Musical Adaptations

An Irish folk singer adapts Hopkins's poems into songs. You can listen to a demo of "Pied Beauty."

Hopkins Readings

A selection of Hopkins's poetry read aloud, including "Pied Beauty."

Images

"Stippled" Painting

A painting by the Frenchman Georges Seurat – a master of the pointillist technique – that we think Hopkins would have liked.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

A photo of Hopkins in 1888, a year before his death, wearing the collar of a Jesuit priest.

"Dappled" Sky

A beautiful photo of a sky in "couple-colour."

Historical Documents

Preface to Hopkins's Work
In the Preface to his (posthumously) published poems, Hopkins explains "Sprung Rhythm." We think that reading his poems is still the best way to understand it.

Books

Hopkins's Poetics of Speech Sound: Sprung Rhythm, Lettering, Inscape

A study of Hopkins focusing on his use of sound. Hopkins believed that "sprung rhythm" mimicked the way that people actually speak in daily conversation.

Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Life

A recent biography of the poet, focusing on his Catholicism and his relationship with his father.

Websites

The Poetry Foundation

The Poetry Foundation provides a biography of Hopkins, a good selection of poems, and suggestions for further scholarly reading.

Gerard Manley Hopkins Literary Festival

The Hopkins literary festival is apparently "the best literary festival in Ireland," according to this website devoted to the festival. That's saying a lot for Ireland, a country that loves its literary festivals. Chew on that, James Joyce.

The Victorian Web

You can find Hopkins on the Victorian Web, a site devoted to British writers during the reign of Queen Victoria.