Gerard Manley Hopkins was born in London in 1844.His father was a writer and poet who founded a Marine Insurance firm .
After University he underwent a conversion to the Catholic Church which estranged him from his family and some of his friends.
In pursuit of his new faith he gave up poetry and began teaching until deciding to become a Jesuit Priest.
His gradual acceptance years later, that writing poetry was not inconsistent with his devotion to God led him to produce some of his finest poetry.
However the return to teaching and his move to Dublin to became a professor of Greek literature led to a periods of depression until his death in 1889.
In the 20th Century Hopkins poetry was acclaimed for its striking imagery and use of language which contrasted greatly with the general trends of 19th Century poetry.
He was seen as a precursor of modernist and free verse poetry which would greatly influence later poets such as T.S Eliot, W.H Auden and Dylan Thomas.
