How lovely!

I'm a fan of Hopkins so it was a pleasure to get this:

I would like to think that you might perhaps be a fan of Fr Gerard's poetry and that this song version of Pied Beauty (mp3 file) by Catholic singer-songwriter Sean 'Leary might be of interest to you.
Also these:

Nature's Bonfire
Felix Randal
The Woodlark

For more song clips from The Alchemist: Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems In Musical Adaptations (Lyrics booklet with 2CD album) [ISBN 0 9550649 0 2] go here:

The Alchemist is a collection of 22 of Gerard Manley Hopkins' poems that have been adapted to music in a variety of contemporary styles by Catholic singer-songwriter Sean O'Leary.

The songs are in a variety of styles that reflect the feel of the original poems, for instance: a gospel version of Pied Beauty, The Woodlark is set as an Irish jig and Thee, God, I Come From is a hymn.

The centrepiece of the album is the first complete musical setting of The Wreck Of The Deutschland. The five Nuns who died in the disaster and to whom the poem is dedicated to were on their way to join their sisters in Wheaton, USA. The sisters continue to commemorate the memory of their sisters' tragic deaths on 6th December each year.

The songs were premiered in July 2005 at The Gerard Manley Hopkins Society 18th Annual Festival in Monasterevin, Co Kildare, Ireland. The album was very well received by the Hopkins' fraternity present which included Desmond Egan, poet and artistic director of the festival and academics such as the Rev Joseph J. Feeney S.J. (St Josephs University, Philadelphia and co-editor of the Hopkins Quarterly) and Rev Peter Milward SJ (Sophia University, Japan).

The album is available to purchase online on our site.