Hopkins, “As Kingfishers Catch Fire”

9th Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. 2, pg 1549

“Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.” (8–9)

Gerald Hopkins was a deeply religious man who believed each person was sent for one purpose and one purpose only. In “As Kingfishers Catch Fire” Hopkins outlines his belief in “inscape,” that is, the innate identity or essence of a thing created by God. Acting on one’s inscape is the ultimate purpose in life, and is meant to glorify God. This is called “instress.” As each animal in “In Kingfishers Catch Fire” acts on its natural purpose (and thus speaks of its divine creation), so does every “mortal thing.” “Selves,” here a verb, refers to that self-enacting of one’s essence, and signals a thematic shift from the idea of an essence to a phase of activity and purpose. The quote above calls on each human to enact their internal inscape to glorify divine creation.

Hopkins often strived for as much order and beauty in his poetry as the inscape, reflected in the density and form of his poems. I like this poem so much because depending on who you ask it is either the simplest or most complicated idea facing poetic inquiry. On one hand, it is simple because each of us are called to do one specific thing, so do it and congratulations, you’ve completed your mission. On the other, exhibiting inscape for humans is far more complicated than that of the dragonflies found earlier in the poem, because human beings possess moral capacity. Hopkins says that unlike the dragonflies and kingfishers, men aren’t just until they “justice,” or behave justly. To put it in other words, humans are not human until they strive for moral perfection, and only then can they hope to “selve” justly. Complicated, right? To quote the great John Green, “Truth resists simplicity.”

Fox, Gill. As Kingfishers Catch Fire… 2012. UK. Artists & Illustrators. Web.

Abrams, M. H. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 2. 9th Edition, New York: Norton, 1974. Print.