We’re thinking of another Collections capturing poetry and other literary pieces penned by people associated with Heythrop College down the years.
As an obvious starter, below is a poem by Heythrop alumnus Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. (1844 – 1889). Do get in contact if you have suggestions for other literary writings we might include that have an association with Heythrop College. Separately, over time we are thinking of adding a library of academic writings.
God’s Grandeur
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.And for all this, nature is never spent;
Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1877 published posthumously in 1918
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs –
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
For a royal rendition of this poem, click here for the Prince of Wales reciting it as part of his Easter message 2021 “in solidarity with Roman Catholics and the environment”.
