The Wreck of the Deutschland,by Gerald Manley Hopkins

One of Hopkins's major poems, it has come in for much criticism. Some term it as Ultramontane Catholicism'; to some its dogmatic fervour is offputting. Even Bridges adjudged that Hopkins forced emotion into religious channels. Hopkins being a perfect product of the Oxford Movement dismissed these charges. He could not divorce the most inherent individual qualities that defined him the best-the zeal of being a poet,and the fervour of Catholicism."The Wreck of the Deutschland" was inspired by a real life tragedy that took over a German ship. The ship carrying some two hundred passengers and crew included five Fransiscan nuns was wrecked in the Thames on the night of 7 December,1875. This ship-wreck had a profound and enduring impression on the sensibilities of Hopkins. He informs his mother of its influence on his life. Consequently, he perceived two balancing movements that engaged the mind of Hopkins throughout his life. likewise, man's response to God had two dimensions to it: he may recognize the being of God or disclaim the existence of God

The poems begins with an invocation to the Master of the Universe. He is the very core of ones' own existence and the Giver of the basic amenities of life. The Omnipresent, He is the very source from which life springs and shore to which human beings reach out in times of utmost need. In the second stanza, the poet portrays God in a different light as terror that demands utmost submission and unconditional adoration. Hopkins reiterates that God has made him as well as unmade him. The shipwreck has emotionally and spiritually rendered him a wreck. He questions God as to why human beings have to endure this appalling aspect of His love. Hopkins, here, alludes to a particular numinous experience that he had in which the souls in hell would be incarcerated in their bodies as in prisons.

Subsequently there occurs a relocation from frown' to grace' .Human beings have always been misguided:they are in the wrong that they adjudge the grace' as frown'. Ultimately, Hopkins comes to comprehend it as a grace. With compassion, he bridges the gap between himself and the heart of the Host, the presence of Christ in the Host' the bread in the Tabernacle, a vessel in which the host is kept after consecration dove-winged'. The poet aspires to traverse from grace' to grace' and flame' to flame' signifying that terror and love are the two facets of God, like two sides of the same coin. Hopkins echoes William Blake's ideas in "The Tyger"where Blake projects the tiger as God's terrible aspect and lamb' as the innocence.. Subsequently, the poet ascertains in logical terms the contrast between God's state of grace and man's earthly existence. "The life of the body disintegrates like the sand in an hour-glass but the spirit gains fullness from the streamlets of God's grace."

The poet hails the stars, starlight and thunder because they are natural manifestations of the heavenly power. The poet perceives intuitively the Almighty's power via the senses. He relegates calculation and comprehension, to Intuition. Nevertheless, the grace of Christ is not implicit in his bliss. The pain of God is the enigmatic truth that we envisage to seek in our spiritual quest. Christ's incarnation and fervor are but reflections of the spiritual paradox of God's authority and clemency. Christ's birth are suggested by images like-Galilee'(Christ's home in boyhood), Maiden's knee(Virgin Mary)," passion' (the anguish of crucifixion).The poet avows that it is sensed today in high flood' ,and re-nacted yet again in the Mass,Christmas.etc.

Agony and anguish, bodily and spiritual provide a deeper perception of the divine intervention and help us appreciate it better. God makes his omnipotent presence felt in the human world in inexplicable ways that are at once contradictory. Hopkins reveres Christ in the mystical three -Father, Son and Holy Ghost. His worship is three-fold and three-dimensional and therefore, wholesome.

In the second part, the poet claims how God is making his presence felt now, not through altar and hour and night' (in church proceedings and rituals), but through tempest and wreckage in close proximity to the English coast. The poet proceeds to elaborate on the tragedy. Five German nuns clasped hands and were drowned together. The chief sister, a gaunt woman,six feet tall summoned loudly and often "Oh Christ come quickly!" till the end. One brave sailor, who was safe in the rigging went down to rescue a child or woman who was drowning on deck. He was secured by a rope to the rigging,but the waves smashed him against the ramparts and when it dawned a headless body, held by a rope and was seen moving back and forth with the waves. Hopkins is exultant to withhold the resilience and reliance of the tall nun. Her fortitude of beholding 'the unshapeable shock night is worth mentioning for the poet. 'Grace' according to the poet, is any movement on God's part by which steers the being to, or towards the end of its existence,

Agony and anguish, bodily and spiritual provide a deeper perception of the divine intervention and help us appreciate it better. God makes his omnipotent presence felt in the human world in inexplicable ways that are at once contradictory. Hopkins reveres Christ in the mystical three -Father, Son and Holy Ghost. His worship is three-fold and three-dimensional and therefore, wholesome.

In the second part, the poet claims how God is making his presence felt now, not through altar and hour and night' (in church proceedings and rituals), but through tempest and wreckage in close proximity to the English coast. The poet proceeds to elaborate on the tragedy. Five German nuns clasped hands and were drowned together. The chief sister, a gaunt woman,six feet tall summoned loudly and often "Oh Christ come quickly!" till the end. One brave sailor, who was safe in the rigging went down to rescue a child or woman who was drowning on deck. He was secured by a rope to the rigging,but the waves smashed him against the ramparts and when it dawned a headless body, held by a rope and was seen moving back and forth with the waves. Hopkins is exultant to withhold the resilience and reliance of the tall nun. Her fortitude of beholding 'the unshapeable shock night is worth mentioning for the poet. 'Grace' according to the poet, is any movement on God's part by which steers the being to, or towards the end of its existence,and derives from the experience, that is at once self-sacrifice to God.

By virtue of this grace, the prophetess towered in the tumult. The tall woman communicated with Christ though the water blinded her vision. The nun visualizes Christ and realizes his intimacy through the extremity of her state. "She has,then in her one fetch',on expedient,one way out. "She hails from Germany, the place of St.Getrude and also of Luther,as they both belonged to the town of Eisleben. More Christian symbols are emumerated in Stanza 20 with the mention of Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel are the sons of Adam symbolizing vice and virtue, respectively. A number of symbols are cited that stand for Christ. The five nuns are likened to the five wounds on Christ. St.Francis, the founder father stood the stigmata, the five wound marks of Christ on his body. Likewise, these five nuns were immersed in Dark waters. The whole purpose of the poet is therefore to justify the ways of God to men as Milton does in his epic Paradise Lost. Christ is conceived and born again through the virgin nun's absolute reliance.

The fourth part is a hymn to God. God is addressed to here as the Lord of all tides and deluge. The Ultimate Will of God is such that all men should be saved, and the sheer travail to which the great God bends so that the souls may be transported home to Him is indeed magnanimous. The thirty-fourth stanza is a splendid address to Second Person of The Blessed Trinity. Christ is here summoned as being newly born and thereby the nun's drowning resonated to the redemptive route of God. Theology and Christology is explicit in imagery and pure poetry. The poem ends at the feet of the Lord' with complete and unconditional acquiescence. Hopkins ends the poem appealing to new sufferers for a cause to take the nun as a paradigm, who grew to be a martyr interceding on behalf of Christ. Christ is to be born again and yet again: 'Pride,Rose,Prince and Lord.'

Thus, "the Wreck" is a poem of contrition, apprehension and submission to God. "It is impossible to discuss for long the distinctive qualities of Hopkins's poetry," writes F.R.Leavis, without coming to his religionHopkins is the devotional poet of dogmatic Christianity."