The Influences Of Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises On Gerard Manley Hopkins' Poetic Creation

Hopkins, a member of the Society of Jesus founded by St. Ignatius, was greatly moulded by the Ignatian way of looking at the world, especially by Ignatius'Spiritual Exercises. Hopkins'religious poems, as manifestations of his thoughts, have remarkable Ignatian traces. This paper attempts to analyze the influences St. Ignatius'spiritual exercises have upon the poetic creation of Gerard Manley Hopkins'religious poems. The poetic creation includes three elements: the themes, the structure, and Hopkins'poetic theory.Introduction gives a brief account of Hopkins'life experiences and a summary of the current state of criticism on Hopkins. Chapter One offers an introduction to St. Ignatius and the Society of Jesus, and more importantly, a summary of the Spiritual Exercises, which are the epitome of Ignatian spirituality. The principles and doctrines in the Spiritual Exercises serve as the major theoretical basis of the paper.Chapter Two explores the influences St. Ignatius'spiritual exercises have on the themes of Hopkins'poems. Two major themes: a sacramental view of the world and Asceticism correspond to two major principles of the Spiritual Exercises, and are Ignatian manifestations in poems. The major task is to find out what these two themes mean, how they are manifested in poems, and for what they are used.Chapter Three analyzes the influences St. Ignatius'spiritual exercises have on the structure of Hopkins'poems. It is maintained that the triple structure of Ignatian meditation offers a basic framework to the structure of Hopkins'meditative poems. To be specific, the three stages of Ignatian meditation correspond respectively to certain parts of his meditative poems.Chapter Four examines the influence St. Ignatius'spiritual exercises have on Hopkins'poetic theory. Inscape, seen by Hopkins as the aim of poetry, is taken as the core of his poetic theory. And therefore, this chapter centers around the term"Inscape", offers a definition of it and tries to justify the reasonableness of this definition from two aspects: individual essence and God'grace. Besides, Duns Scotus'philosophical theology is introduced to justify the theory of individual essence in Inscape. The last part is the Conclusion.Through the analysis of the influences Ignatius'spiritual exercises have on these three aspects, the paper asserts that the ultimate purpose of Hopkins'poems is to praise God, to make himself and men in union with God.