Gerard Manley Hopkins' "terrible" Sonnets In the mid 1800's a very spiritual poet was born. Gerard Manley Hopkins was born July 28, 1844 to Manley and Catherine (Smith) Hopkins, the first of their nine children (Drabble 473). His parents were High Church Anglicans, and his father had just published a volume of poetry the year before (Drabble 473). He was ordained as a Jesuit priest who wrote beautiful poetry full of thoughts of nature and harmony. Hopkins poetry was, for the most part, published after his death in 1889. Five years before Hopkins death he wrote six "terrible" sonnets revealing his inner torment and separation from G