Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1829-1844 was a Victorian-era English poet and Jesuit priest. He is known for his unique and experimental poetic style, which was highly unusual for his time. A brilliant Oxford scholar, he converted to Catholicism and joined the Society of Jesus, a move that led him to burn all of his early poetry. 

His later work, which was only published posthumously, is characterized by what he called "sprung rhythm," a meter designed to mimic natural speech. His poetry is filled with vivid, sensuous language, often exploring the beauty of nature and its connection to God's presence, a concept he called "inscape." Despite being largely unrecognized during his lifetime, he is now celebrated as a major figure in English poetry, whose innovations influenced a new generation of 20th-century writers. 
 

 
Glory be to God for dappled things – 

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; 

For rose-moles in all stipple upon the trout that swim; 

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches wings; 

Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, plough; 

And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim. 

All things counter, original, spare, strange; 

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) 

With swift, slow; sweet, sour, adazzle, dim; 

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: 

Praise him.