Gerard Manley Hopkins - The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo

07/27/22 • 6 min

Catholic Culture Audiobooks

How to keep–is there ány any, is there none such, nowhere

known some, bow or brooch or braid or brace, láce, latch

or catch or key to keep

Back beauty, keep it, beauty, beauty, beauty, . . . from vanishing

away?

Gerard Manley Hopkins was an English poet and Jesuit priest born on July 28, 1844 (tomorrow would have been his 178th birthday!). A convert from Anglicanism, Hopkins was received into the Church in 1866 by none other than St. John Henry Newman. Because of his commitment to his religious and priestly vocation, Hopkins resolved never to publish his poems during his life. After his death, however, friends and acquaintances published his surviving work, and Hopkins was quickly recognized as one of the most innovative poets of his century.

"The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo"—originally intended as part of a larger, never finished poem about the martyrdom of St. Winifred—was completed in 1882, seven years before Hopkins' untimely death of typhoid fever in 1889, at the age of 44. Hopkins considered it to be the most musical of his poems, and among the most dramatic.

The mythic Philosopher's Stone was believed to be capable of turning lead into gold. In "The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo", a similar transmutation occurs—the kind of transformation which God's grace alone is capable of accomplishing. Indeed, though he struggled with depression throughout his life, Hopkins' last words at his death were, "I am so happy, I am so happy. I loved my life."

Links

"The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo" full text: https://hopkinspoetry.com/poem/the-leaden-echo-and-the-golden-echo/

Notable readings of the poem by Sir Alec Guinness and by Richard Burton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyPnd5zyzI0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhQwFf6Qb9U

Short film and reading of the poem by Margaret Tait: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L080KSBxemg

Donate at http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio to support this podcast!

How to keep–is there ány any, is there none such, nowhere

known some, bow or brooch or braid or brace, láce, latch

or catch or key to keep

Back beauty, keep it, beauty, beauty, beauty, . . . from vanishing

away?

Links

"The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo" full text: https://hopkinspoetry.com/poem/the-leaden-echo-and-the-golden-echo/

Notable readings of the poem by Sir Alec Guinness and by Richard Burton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyPnd5zyzI0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhQwFf6Qb9U

Short film and reading of the poem by Margaret Tait: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L080KSBxemg

Donate at http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio to support this podcast!

Previous Episode

St. Francis de Sales—Introduction to the Devout Life | Part 1 (Ch.9-18)

"Now, in order to attain this fear and this contrition, you must use the following meditations carefully; for if you practice them steadfastly, they (by God's grace) will root out both sin and its affections from your heart. It is to that end that I have prepared them: use them one after another, in the order in which they come, only taking one each day, and using that as early as possible, for the morning is the best time for all spiritual exercises—and then you will ponder and meditate on it through the day. If you have not as yet been taught how to meditate, you will find instructions to that purpose in the Second Part."

This episode contains the ten meditations included by St. Francis de Sales in the First Part of his Introduction to the Devout Life. The below timestamps are provided to facilitate listening to the meditations one at a time:

First Meditation, On Creation — 00:40

Second Meditation, On the End for Which We Were Created — 07:10

Third Meditation, On the Gifts of God — 13:10

Forth Meditation, On Sin — 19:04

Fifth Meditation, On Death — 25:23

Sixth Meditation, On Judgment — 32:44

Seventh Meditation, On Hell — 38:43

Eighth Meditation, On Paradise — 42:46

Ninth Meditation, On the Choice Open to You Between Heaven and Hell — 47:49

Tenth Meditation, On How the Soul Chooses the Devout Life — 53:10

Links

Introduction to the Devout Life full text: https://watch.formed.org/introduction-to-the-devout-life-by-st-francis-de-sales

Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Next Episode

St. Francis de Sales—Introduction to the Devout Life | Part 1 (Ch.19-24)

"There is no disposition so good but it may be made bad by reason of vicious habits, and neither is there any natural disposition so perverse but that it may be conquered and overcome by God's grace primarily, and then by our earnest endeavor."

St. Francis de Sales ends this first part of the Introduction with instructions on making a general confession along with a firm resolution at amendment. He concludes with an exhortation that the devout soul be resolved to purge away all tendency to venial sins, all inclination to useless distractions, and all imperfections whatsoever. In Part 2, he will lay out the means for doing so.

Links

Introduction to the Devout Life full text: https://watch.formed.org/introduction-to-the-devout-life-by-st-francis-de-sales

Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio