Hopkins, a Jesuit priest, his religious beliefs form the backdrop to the themes of his poems.
He believes in the fundamental truth that it is God's plan to save mankind from their fallen state.
He sees God's presence in the book of nature and his early sonnets praise "God's grandeur".
The terrible sonnets reflect his dark night of the soul as he questions his own faith in the fundamental truths which he expresses, so joyously, in the earlier poems.
He created two unique poetic concepts, namely Instress and Inscape.
His use of sprung rhythm conveys the divinely inspired joy he experiences.
Influenced by
his study of Old
English and Old
Welsh dialects.
His honest
depiction of the
depths of
depression is
strikingly honest.