As Kingfishers Catch
Fire is a selection of Gerard Manley Hopkins' incomparably brilliant
poetry, ranging from the ecstasy of 'The Windhover' and 'Pied Beauty' to
the heart-wrenching despair of the 'sonnets of desolation'.
Maybe I'm not the best placed reader to review this small book, English not being my first language, poetry not being my usual reading ground. We have 31 poems here and at the end, several extracts of Hopkins's journals.
It doesn't mean I've never read - or loved - poetry before (I even found one poem in here that I could link to another by Prévert !), and I could understand the author's religious feelings even if I couldn't relate, not being a religious person.
On the other side, I was able to appreciate the love of nature, beauty, despair even, colours, the rhythm of the words, the rhythm of the stanzas and see what others, more poetry friendly readers, have loved here. And I firmly believe that the more poetry in English that I read, the more it will be easier for me to really enjoy it.
Anyway, I'm continuing to read all the little Black classics from Penguin - the next is already ordered : "The saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-tongue". Tout un programme, as we say in French !
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