Closer to dylan thomas than matthew arnold in his 'creative violence' and insistence on the of poetry, Gerard Manley Hopkins was no staid, conventional victorian. On entering the society of jesus at the age of 24, he bur...Closer to dylan thomas than matthew arnold in his 'creative violence' and insistence on the of poetry, Gerard Manley Hopkins was no staid, conventional victorian. On entering the society of jesus at the age of 24, he burnt all his poetry and 'resolved to write no more, as not belonging to my profession, unless by the wish of my superiors.' the poems, letters, and journal entries selected for this edition were written in the following twenty years of his life and published posthumously in 1918.