Abstract
This essay discusses some poems by Hopkins in relation to certain themes in spiritual theology. It examines the expression of spiritual suffering in `The Wreck of the Deutschland' and the `desolation' sonnets and moves from readings of these poems to the difficult general considerations raised by them. How are such experiences of darkness and dread within the spiritual life to be interpreted? What is the effect of their transmutation into art? Can the communication of private spiritual experience be countenanced?
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