This studyconcerns itselfwith Gerard Manley Hopkins in his Celtic contexts-- his interests in, his concerns with, and his time spent living in and visiting Celtic localities. His interests are discussed, first of all, with regard to his contact with the different peoples and places who share an element of culturally Celtic identity, notably during his three years in Wales while still a theology student, and especially during the final five years of his life in Ireland as a university college professor. Then, Hopkins’s specifically Irish interests and concerns are noted as they were present in his life during his long years of education and training before going to Ireland. Finally in Ireland, in the educational and political contexts in which he finds himself, those interests and concerns, especially in language and literature, are presented as they take root, and we find even earlier not specifically Irish Celtic interests still very much alive and present. In conclusion, the interplay between Hopkins’s life in Ireland and his work, specifically his poetry, is discussed especially regarding the differing degrees to which he reveals himself to his various correspondents and differing ways in which and extents to which he uses and adapts autobiographical material in his poetry.
