This is a study of G. M. Hopkins' ecopoetics, which is deeply rooted in his idea of the Incarnation. Influenced by the medieval theologian Duns Scotus, Hopkins believes that God is inherent not only in man but also in nature. According to this newly-interpreted ecological view, nature is the body of Christ incarnated; the idea demands a radical rethinking of the Western culture which is based on the fundamental difference between man and nature. The line “Christ plays in ten thousands places” from “As Kingfishers Catch Fire” best summarizes his ecopoetics of Incarnation. Because Christ is in things, they are intrinsically valuable regardless of their instrumental value to man. Along with Wendell Berry and other modern ecotheologists, Hopkins insists that the world is created by God, who is still controlling and completing his creation. Hopkins also argues that God is far from having disappeared from the world, leaving everything into the hands of man and natural order. In this sense the phrase “The world is charged with God's grandeur” makes it clear that the world is still powered and governed by divine energy and principle, though this is unclear to the “bleared and smeared” eyes of the “self-bent” men. “God's Grandeur” claims that the cause of man's destruction and pollution of the nature is, above all things, due to man's not “reck[ing] his rod” and preoccupation with his own “trade” and “toil.” Even though the world is “bent” by man's “thriftless” “havoc of destruction,” Hopkins finds the possibility of the world's renewal in the Holy Ghost's brooding over the bent world “with warm breast and with bright wings.” By this very gesture God re-enacts his first creation in Genesis. If “God's Grandeur” delineates compactly the main ideas of Hopkins' ecology, “Binsey Poplars” graphically shows the misery and devastating effect of destroying nature, symbolized in the felling of the poplars. By lamenting, “O if we but knew what we do/When we delve or hew,” Hopkins suggests that our ecological blindness to the interconnectedness of our lives with the natural and divine worlds perpetuates irreparable damage to Earth. In his poetics of Incarnation, Hopkins views the tree's suffering as Christ's suffering, and, by extension, his own suffering. In “Ribblesdale” he raises the issue of nature's silence/speech and man's paradoxical role in this world as not only the destroyer but also the healer: the very concepts modern ecologists struggle with. Besides these, his advocacy for the preservation of “wet and wildness” and natural resources for future generations are far ahead of his time. Hopkins' insight that all things in the world are God's creation in which Christ's divine characteristics are incarnated, and that God intends the simultaneous salvation of both man and nature underlies his ecological poems.

This is a study of G. M. Hopkins' ecopoetics, which is deeply rooted in his idea of the Incarnation. Influenced by the medieval theologian Duns Scotus, Hopkins believes that God is inherent not only in man but also in nature. According to this newly-interpreted ecological view, nature is the body of Christ incarnated; the idea demands a radical rethinking of the Western culture which is based on the fundamental difference between man and nature. The line “Christ plays in ten thousands places” from “As Kingfishers Catch Fire” best summarizes his ecopoetics of Incarnation. Because Christ is in things, they are intrinsically valuable regardless of their instrumental value to man. Along with Wendell Berry and other modern ecotheologists, Hopkins insists that the world is created by God, who is still controlling and completing his creation. Hopkins also argues that God is far from having disappeared from the world, leaving everything into the hands of man and natural order. In this sense the phrase “The world is charged with God's grandeur” makes it clear that the world is still powered and governed by divine energy and principle, though this is unclear to the “bleared and smeared” eyes of the “self-bent” men. “God's Grandeur” claims that the cause of man's destruction and pollution of the nature is, above all things, due to man's not “reck[ing] his rod” and preoccupation with his own “trade” and “toil.” Even though the world is “bent” by man's “thriftless” “havoc of destruction,” Hopkins finds the possibility of the world's renewal in the Holy Ghost's brooding over the bent world “with warm breast and with bright wings.” By this very gesture God re-enacts his first creation in Genesis. If “God's Grandeur” delineates compactly the main ideas of Hopkins' ecology, “Binsey Poplars” graphically shows the misery and devastating effect of destroying nature, symbolized in the felling of the poplars. By lamenting, “O if we but knew what we do/When we delve or hew,” Hopkins suggests that our ecological blindness to the interconnectedness of our lives with the natural and divine worlds perpetuates irreparable damage to Earth. In his poetics of Incarnation, Hopkins views the tree's suffering as Christ's suffering, and, by extension, his own suffering. In “Ribblesdale” he raises the issue of nature's silence/speech and man's paradoxical role in this world as not only the destroyer but also the healer: the very concepts modern ecologists struggle with. Besides these, his advocacy for the preservation of “wet and wildness” and natural resources for future generations are far ahead of his time. Hopkins' insight that all things in the world are God's creation in which Christ's divine characteristics are incarnated, and that God intends the simultaneous salvation of both man and nature underlies his ecological poems.

Ecopoetics,Hopkins,Incarnation,"God's Grandeur",“Binsey Poplars”