Well, yes, almost all human beings have some sort of sense of humour BUT some people choose to suppress or abandon that in their public work (or persona). Even poets who write exclusively autobiographically, and I would contend they're few and far between (amongst mature poets with a significant body of work - beginners often start exclusively with autobiography), don't necessarily include their whole selves in their work. Poetry, as the saying goes, is found through what one chooses to leave out.
But I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who has found humour in Hopkins' poems. We don't all share the same sense of humour. :-)
P.S. I thought it was Andrew Lang who originated the famous quote about Swinburne and Herod:
"What, then, is lacking to make Mr. Swinburne a poet of a rank even higher than that which he occupies? Who can tell? There is no science that can master this chemistry of the brain. He is too copious. “Bothwell” is long enough for six plays, and “Tristram of Lyonesse” is prolix beyond even mediaeval narrative. He is too pertinacious; children are the joy of the world and Victor Hugo is a great poet; but Mr. Swinburne almost makes us excuse Herod and Napoleon III. by his endless odes to Hugo, and rondels to small boys and girls. Ne quid nimis, that is the golden rule which he constantly spurns, being too luxuriant, too emphatic, and as fond of repeating himself as Professor Freeman. Such are the defects of so noble a genius; thus perverse Nature has decided that it shall be, Nature which makes no ruby without a flaw."
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-09-28 09:04 am (UTC)But I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who has found humour in Hopkins' poems. We don't all share the same sense of humour. :-)
P.S. I thought it was Andrew Lang who originated the famous quote about Swinburne and Herod:
"What, then, is lacking to make Mr. Swinburne a poet of a rank even higher than that which he occupies? Who can tell? There is no science that can master this chemistry of the brain. He is too copious. “Bothwell” is long enough for six plays, and “Tristram of Lyonesse” is prolix beyond even mediaeval narrative. He is too pertinacious; children are the joy of the world and Victor Hugo is a great poet; but Mr. Swinburne almost makes us excuse Herod and Napoleon III. by his endless odes to Hugo, and rondels to small boys and girls. Ne quid nimis, that is the golden rule which he constantly spurns, being too luxuriant, too emphatic, and as fond of repeating himself as Professor Freeman. Such are the defects of so noble a genius; thus perverse Nature has decided that it shall be, Nature which makes no ruby without a flaw."
- Of Modern English Poetry