Posts Tagged ‘Gerard Manley Hopkins’
getting some perspective on annoying people
I was writing in my journal yesterday about my frustration — my anger, really — with a coworker, using ink on paper as a way to vent and perhaps to find some perspective. I wrote,
“I feel like he is often — always? — judging me. And he is arrogant — and insecure, and well-intentioned. But he doesn’t extend grace to others. Should I expect an atheist to be grace-full? I suppose not.”
personal attention
Most of us like personal attention, knowing that someone else has given thought to us individually and specifically. But so many Christians don’t seem to believe that personal attention can occur between themselves and God, and certainly, the lost don’t believe that such a thing exists — and they often make fun of us who not only […]
“What I do is me”
I’ve always been a lover of fiction, and only in the last 3 or 4 years have I come to a place where I can not only teach poetry but also enjoy it. The majority of my students in literature surveys are put off by poetry (as I was, even in grad school), so I have had some hesitation in posting a poem here.
This summer, I’ve been teaching British and Irish Literature II (which covers the late 1700’s to the present), and I’ve been reacquainted with some poems and poets that I love. In particular I’m drawn to Gerard Manley Hopkins, a Jesuit in Victorian England who wrote so eloquently about his faith. A number of his poems speak to his struggles with doubt, but he has others that celebrate God and creation. “As kingfishers catch fire” has been on my mind since mid-June: when I read it one morning before class, it stunned me (more about why after the poem).