Manuscripts reveal Gerard Manley Hopkins' poetic process

My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled

Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun

All felled, felled, are all felled

These are the opening lines of Binsey Poplars, written by late Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins in 1879 after the felling of some trees along the Thames.

Manley Hopkins was an undergraduate at Oxford University while he wrote the poem and the trees were replanted after the poem was first published in 1918. 

The Bodleian Library has this week acquired draft manuscripts of the poem at auction – the most significant of the poet’s draft manuscripts to come on the market in 40 years. The manuscripts join the four other drafts owned by the Bodleian, meaning that the library now owns all known manuscripts of the poem. 

Christopher Fletcher, Keeper of Special Collections at the Bodleian Library, says: 'The various revisions in the draft, particularly when studied alongside the other drafts, gives us a remarkable insight into how the poet crafts his passionate lament on man’s disregard for the sanctity of nature. It’s an enduringly relevant poem that everyone should know.'

The acquisition was made possible by strong financial support from a number of individuals and funding bodies, including the Friends of the Bodleian, the Friends of the National Libraries and the V&A Purchase Grant Fund.

The manuscript will be displayed on Thursday May 9 in a free exhibition at the Bodleian Library.

Top image: Binsey village by Omassey; Bottom image: Gerard Manley Hopkins (public domain)