Immortal Diamond: Studies in Gerard Manley Hopkins ed. by Norman Weyand, Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Study of Poetic Idiosyncrasy in Relation to Poetic Tradition by W. H. Gardner, Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Critical Essay towards the Understanding of his Poetry by W. A. M. Peters (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 289 Immortal Diamond: Studies in Gerard Manley Hopkins. Edited by NoRMAN WEYAND. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1949. Pp. 4lH, with indexes. $5.00. Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Study of Poetic Idiosyncrasy in Relation to Poetic Tradition. By W. H. GARDNER. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1948. Pp. 304, with index. $4.00. Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Critical Essay towards the Understanding of his Poetry. By W. A. M. PETERS. New York: Oxford University Press, 194.8. Pp. 213, with index. $4.50. Immortal Diamond, a phrase drawn from one of Hopkin's poems, is a collection of studies by, eleven American Jesuits. It is a very uneven book not in the sense that some of the chapters are sound while others are superficial , but in the sense that the separate studies are suitable to different levels of readers. Several of them serve as an introduction to the poet for those making a first acquaintance while others presume an audience which is already initiated. Herein lies both the strength and weakness of Immortal Diamond. Among the very general introductory studies is, for instance, a biographical sketch of Hopkins in his relation to the Society of Jesus which in a very rounded and balanced manner gives the story of his life from the time of his conversion until his death. It draws heavily on primary materials, especially on the letters, as indeed it should. Occasionally there is some facet which needs illumination. When, for instance, Hopkins at Oxford was considering Rome he wrote in his diary: "Note that if ever I should leave the English Church the fact of Provost Fortescue is to be got over." This is quoted but without any attempt to determine just what "the fact of Provost Fortescue" was, and it·would seem to be a not unimportant hurdle in the story of his conversion. From the essay we do learn one very important new fact: that Hopkins' spiritual diary which has not survived was mistakenly returned to his family after his death and that acting on instructions written on the :flyleaf , his two sisters burnt the diary without reading it. For the past two decades critics have speculated-and sometimes very wildly indeed-as to its whereabouts or the reasons for its destruction, and it is good to have the matter finally settled. A further general essay is d!lvoted to Hopkins as a poet· of nature and of the supernatural and still another to him as a poet uf ascetic and religious conflict. The writer of the latter does not underestimate the gravity and acuteness of such " conflict " but he concludes that all sad portraits of Hopkins cramped by the stern discipline of Jesuit life and living out dismal days of broken hearted frustration among the Jesuits 290 .BOOK REVIEWS may be viewed with a smile of gentle, not to say profound, incredulity. In contrast to these introductory essays is such a study as that entitled "Greco-Roman Verse Theory and Hopkins" which presupposes far more than a superficial knowledge of the theory and practice of classical prosody. Hopkins believed that there were strong similarities between his rhythms and those of the Greek choruses. The writer's thesis is that Hopkins' misunderstandings of Greek and Latin rhythmic usages, which derived for the most part from mistakes of scholars of his age, led his speculation on classical meter over unsafe ground. The essay is challenging and can finally be evaluated only when one takes into consideration Hopkins ' own experiments in Greek poetry which were very recently-certainly too recently for them to be considered here-printed for the first time in the third edition of his poems. The longest study-some eighty pages-is also one of the most valuable. In " Sprung Rhythm and the Life of English Poetry " Walter Ong attempts to account for Hopkins' sprung rhythm and his practice against a general pattern of development in English verse. Aware of the tremendous intricacies of the problem, he demonstrates very persuasively that interpretive or sense-stress rhythm demands alliteration, assonance, internal rhyme, dramatic suppression of words, telescoping of grammatical structure as invaluable and necessary helps in bringing out the intended meaning. One concludes...