Family and Early Years
Gerard Manley Hopkins was born in Stratford in 1844 to Manley and Kate Hopkins. He was very close to his family while growing up and their influence is noticeable in his later work and interests. For instance, his maternal aunt Maria Smith Giberne taught him to draw and used to send him letters with little drawings and paintings, like the one on the left. You can explore more of her work at the Gerard Manley Hopkins Collection of the Harry Ransom Center of The University of Texas at Austin. Furthermore, Hopkins paternal aunt Anne Eleanor Hopkins, tutored him in several subjects, including painting and music. The portrait below was painted by her when Hopkins was fifteen years old.
As well as his aunts, his father was also an important influence in Hopkins’ later poetic career. For instance, Manley Hopkins wrote and published a book of religious poetry titled Pietas Metrica Or, Nature Suggestive of God and Godliness in 1849 with his brother and Hopkins’ uncle Thomas Marsland Hopkins. You can find a copy of it at the bottom of this page.
Moreover, it was not only his love of poetry that Manley Hopkins instilled in his son, but also his interest in shipping and wrecks. Manley Hopkins was the founder of a marine insurance firm, which made the tracking of shipwrecks an important part of his life and his family’s life. As explained in the exhibit about the SS Deutschland, it was this infamous shipwreck that would be the inspiration for one of Hopkins’ most famous poems, The Wreck of the Deutschland. And this would not be the only shipwreck-themed poem by Hopkins, as he would also write The Loss of the Eurydice in 1878.
Finally, Hopkins’ family also instilled in him an interest in religion and theology. His paternal uncles both pursued religious careers: Thomas Marsland Hopkins was curate at St. Saviour’s Paddington and Charles Gordon Hopkins established an Anglican bishopric in Honolulu. The Hopkins family, however, was High Anglican, which made Hopkins’ conversion to Catholicism during his time at Oxford come as a shock that would create a rift in this close-knit family. After his conversion and although they kept in close contact by correspondence, Hopkins would not see his parents again until his death in Dublin in 1889.