The Split World of Gerard Manley Hopkins: An Essay in Semiotic Phenomenology

For the first time in almost half a century, the world of Hopkins is examined as an indivisible whole. The Split World of Gerard Manley Hopkins is a synthetic study of Hopkins's writings, written within a framework of semiotic phenomenology. It analyses the general configuration of meanings found in Hopkins's writings as an oeuvre, including their theological, as well as existential, aspects. With an eye on this general structure, the book addresses (and reassesses) all of the central issues of Hopkins's poetry: from ontological questions and theological complexities to the representation of existence in its facticity and the orders of desire. The problems of poetic forms and techniques are analysed in detail in all those cases when they become relevant to the questions of poetic meaning.

After explaining the book's theoretical approach in the introduction, chapter 1 addresses Hopkins's representation of ontological problems in their relation to aesthetic contemplation, on the one hand, and mystical experience, on the other. In addition, it analyses the diverse semiotic -- both allegorical and typological -- structures of Hopkins's poetic universe. Chapter 2 discusses his representation of the supposedly universal aspects of human existence: from mortality to sexual desire. Chapter 3 examines Hopkins's representation of 'being in culture': the subversive use of political discourse, his struggle with the anxiety of poetic influence, and the images of metaphysical indeterminacy. Finally, chapter 4 focuses on poetic strategies that create a discontinuity between the theological and the existential realms, or between the poetic and scholastic modalities of discourse. The conclusion exemplifies the possibilities of synthetic readings of his poems, which are carried out with close attention to all the elements discussed previously. These readings highlight the complexity of Hopkins's texts, the counterplay of different semantic elements, their complex and ambivalent philosophical statements, and their exceptional artistic virtuosity.