Until she started singing, I didn't realize the woman in this clip was Natalie Merchant. Then it became pretty hard to miss.
Gerard Manley Hopkins is my favorite of the Victorian British poets. His melding of pagan imagery and Christian ideas was certainly an achievement. But really I just love the way he sounds. He brought a new rhythm to old forms.
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I didn't realize who Natalie Merchant was until I looked her up and found she was the lead singer of 10,000 Maniacs. We didn't listen to them much but I do remember 'Because the Night' being a good song. She does have a fine voice.
Gerard Manley Hopkins is another of those poets I'd never met previously. Lovely as her sung version is, the poem Spring and Fall seems a bit too morbid for my taste. So I looked up some of his other poems and discovered why it is you've counted him among your favorites.
The Windhover is most evocative:
I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing.
He certainly had a wonderful time with the English language, an admirable quality.
I'm pretty much where you are. I've never been what you'd call a fan of 10,000 Maniacs, but I do like her voice. I remember the version of "Because the Night" you mention, as well as the original (I think?) by Patti Smith.
Hopkins largely didn't publish in his lifetime because it would distract from his priestly duties. Which meant that those who hung around until after he died were in for a treat. He definitely did know how to have fun with language. The poem that Merchant sings may have morbid subject matter but I like the tone it strikes. I also like:
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
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