Gerard Manley Hopkins
and Monasterevin
Welcome to Monasterevin, haven of Victorian Poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins in Ireland.
Now, each year since 1986, during the last week of July, this small Irish town hosts an International Literary Festival to celebrate this great Victorian poet. While living in Dublin, teaching in the newly founded Catholic University in Dublin, Hopkins found a supportive haven in an Irish village, Monasterevin, in the south west of Ireland.
Gerard Manley Hopkins, born in England in 1844, spent five and a half years in Ireland. From 1883, he taught at The Catholic University on St. Stephen's Green, Dublin (now Unversity College , Dublin (UCD) at Belfield). He died at Newman House, on St. Stephen's Green, in 1889.
Gerard Manley Hopkins was buried in the Jesuit Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. The poet visited Monasterevin, his rural haven, at least 7 times declaring that he 'felt better for the delicious bog air of Monasterevin'.
that Monasterevin was , 'one of the props and struts of my existence.'
'I should have felt better for the delicious bog air of Monasterevin.'
Our Institute provides us means of discouragement, and on me at all events they have had all the effects that could be expected or wished and rather more . . . I am staying (till tomorrow morning, alas) with kind people at a nice place (Monasterevin).
Peatland World, a heritage centre highlighting the Bogs beloved of Hopkins
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The Gerard Manley Hopkins Summer School
Each year, last week in July since 1987.
The English poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, visited Monasterevin in County Kildare at least 7 times |
The poet visited Monasterevin at least seven times, a guest of a Miss Cassidy who lived in the house opposite the Hopkins Monument. Records show that he visited Monasterevin
- Christmas 1886,
- in 1887
- in January,
- in March,
- in June
- and at Christmas 1887,
- at Christmas 1888,
- and in March 1889.
On the 2nd of January 1887, the poet wrote from Monasterevin to his friend and fellow poet, Robert Bridges:
I had, in spite of the severe cold, some very pleasant days down at Monasterevin in Co.Kildare at Christmas and again at New Year and it
was a happy acquaintance to make, for they made no secret of liking me and want me to go down again.
Hopkins spent 'some very pleasant days down at Monasterevin'. On 24 January 1887, the poet wrote to his mother:
On March 29th, 1887, Hopkins wrote,
'I should have felt better for the delicious bog air of Monasterevin'.
He appreciated the waterways of Monasterevin, in particular,
' The River Barrow,'burling Barrow brown'
Among his last sketches, one appers to be the River Barrow with 4 trees in the background. It is signed: Monasterevin, Dec. 29, '88 . The River Barrow featured in his unfinished poem:'On the portrait of Two Beautiful Young People'. 'The burling Barrow brown', refers to the rusty brown colour the river water acquires as it meanders at a leisurely pace through surrounding bogland.
Monasterevin, 'one of the props and struts of my existence.'
In his last letter to future Poet Laureate, Robert Bridges, Hopkins wrote in reply to Bridges's asking : "Who is Miss Cassidy?" ....
She is an elderly lady who by often asking me down to Monasterevin and by the change and holiday, her kind hospitality provides is become one of the props and struts of my existence.
The Presentation Sisters, who now own the Cassidy house, ( Hopkins's haven), continue the Cassidy tradition of hospitality and each year, welcome Hopkins Festial visitors to visit the Hopkins House for a Poetry Reading.
Henry VIII curses Abbey Lands, Confiscated by Henry V111
In a letter, Hopkins fondly recalls St. Evin and the famed Abbey (now Moore Abbey) he founded:
St. Evin founded the Monastery: a singular story is told of him. Henry VIII confiscated it and it became the property of Lord Drogheda* The usual curse on abbey lands attends it and it never passes down in the direct line. The present Lady and Lord Drogheda have no issue. Outside Moore Abbey, which is in a beautiful park, the country is flat, bogs, and river and canals. The river is the Barrow, which the old Irish poet calls the dumb Barrow. I call it the 'Burling Barrow Brown'. Both descriptions are true. The country has nevertheless a charm. The two beautiful young people live within an easy drive.
