Poem-A-Day: It was a hard thing to undo this knot by Gerard Manley Hopkins

It was a hard thing to undo this knot by Gerard Manley Hopkins     It was a hard thing to undo this knot.  The rainbow shines, but only in the thought  Of him that looks. Yet not in that alone,  For who makes rainbows by invention?  And many standing round a waterfall  See one bow each, yet not the same to all,  But each a hand's breadth further than the next.  The sun on falling waters writes the text  Which yet is in the eye or in the thought.  It was a hard thing to undo this knot.       Today's poem is in the public domain.  About This Poem The fragment "It was a hard thing to undo this knot" is one of Hopkins's few surviving early poems; after making the decision to join the Society of Jesus, Hopkins burned most of his early work, believing at the time that poetry was distracting him from his religious calling. Today is the anniversary of Hopkins's birth. Work by Hopkins The Major Works (Oxford University Press, 2009)   Poem-A-Day Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on  weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Browse the Poem-A-Day Archive.   July 28, 2013 Gerard Manley Hopkins was born on July 28, 1844, near London. A Jesuit priest, he devoted most of his time to his religion, but is best remembered  today for the inventive and ingeniously musical verse he wrote in private. Hopkins died in 1889. Related Poems Man Carrying Thing by Wallace Stevens Intention to Escape from Him by Edna St. Vincent Millay The Needle by Jennifer Grotz   Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

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