“Sprung rhythm is measured by feet of from one to four syllables…” — Gerard Manley Hopkins

“Sprung rhythm is measured by feet of from one to four syllables, regularly, and the feet are either trochees or dactyls.”

Explaining the rhythmic principle he developed to reproduce the movement of natural speech · Preface to Poems

Music
Poetry

Gerard Manley Hopkins

About Gerard Manley Hopkins

28 July 1844–8 June 1889

Gerard Manley Hopkins was born on July 28, 1844, in Stratford, Essex, which has since been absorbed into the bustling expanse of Greater London. He entered the world as the eldest of what would become nine children in a prosperous, artistic, and devout High Church Anglican family. His father, Manley Hopkins, was a…

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