The Hound of Heaven
By Stella Langdale and Francis Thompson
4/5
()
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Reviews for The Hound of Heaven
23 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three starts for the writing (on a first reading, possibly to be revised), with an extra half-star for the woodcut illustrations, though it may well end up at four stars eventually.I spotted this one on the shelf of Great Grandfather's Bookshop in Leyland, Lancashire, struck by the front cover illustration, then half remembering the title, then fully remembering the opening lines, though I can't quite place from where: the introduction to another book of poetry, I'm sure, but which one I can't recall. The disappointment of the slightly torn dust jacket and internal staining were ameliorated by the £1.50 price mark penciled in the front, so it ended up chiming home with me. I recognised the author's name, too, and looking him up I was pleasantly surprised to discover that he was born in Winkley Street in Preston, a street I walk down each week, and his name I recognise from the plaque hung there to commemorate his birth in the city. I'll pay more attention to it on my next visit. As for the poem itself, it's written in a highly wrought Romantic style. I'm not entirely adverse to that, but at times it feels like it was laid on a bit thick. However, in the vastly more important opinion of J.R.R. Tolkien, Thompson is to be "ranked amongst the very greatest of poets" (The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, Volume 1: Chronology, page 51), so there's that to recommend him.Tolkien would, I'm sure, be drawn to the Catholic sentiment of The Hound of Heaven, in which the Hound is Christ, who lovingly hunts the lost soul of the poem's narrator, a biographical theme given Thompson's loss of faith, destitution, drug-addiction and ultimate return to the Christian fold. For myself, if I'm to get anything from the poem beyond the poetic imagery, and the rhythm and rhyme, it will be as symbolic of the finding of the Self in a psychological sense. I didn't find it in this, my first, reading, but I strongly suspect it's lying in wait for me in there, somewhere.
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The Hound of Heaven - Stella Langdale
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Title: The Hound of Heaven
Author: Francis Thompson
Illustrator: Stella Langdale
Release Date: December 21, 2009 [EBook #30730]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUND OF HEAVEN ***
Produced by Al Haines
THE HOUND OF HEAVEN
When she lit her glimmering tapers
Round the day's dead sanctities Page 52]
THE HOUND OF HEAVEN
By FRANCIS THOMPSON
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
STELLA LANGDALE
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
1926
COPYRIGHT, 1922,
BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, INC.
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
INTRODUCTION
The Rev. Mark J. McNeal, S. J., who was one of the successors of Lafcadio Hearn in the chair of English Literature at the Tokyo Imperial University, in an interesting article recounts the following incident of his experience in that institution. "I was seated on the examining board with Professor Ichikawa, the dean of the English department... There entered the room a student whom I recognized as among the best in the class, a sharp young chap with big Mongolian eyes, and one who had never to my knowledge given any hint of even a leaning toward Christianity. I remembered, however, that his thesis submitted for a degree had been a study of Francis Thompson. Following the usual custom, I began to question him about his thesis.
"'Why did you choose Thompson?'
"'Well, he is quite a famous poet.'
"'What kind of poet is he?'
"'We might call him a mystic.'
"'Is he a mystic of the orthodox sort, like Cynewulf or Crashaw; or an unorthodox mystic, like Blake or Shelley?'
"'Oh, he's orthodox.'
"'Well, now, what do you consider his greatest production?'
'Why, I should say
The Hound of Heaven."
"'Well, what on earth does Thompson mean by that Hound?'
"'He means God.'
"'But is not that a rather irreverent way for Thompson to be talking about God, calling Him a hound? What does he mean by comparing God to a hound?'
"'Well, he means the pursuit of God.'
"'Oh, I see, Thompson is pursuing God, is he?'
"'Oh, no. He is rather running away from God.'
"'Well, then, God is pursuing Thompson, is that it?'
"'Yes, that's it.'
Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears Page 45
'"But, see here; according to Thompson's belief God is everywhere, isn't He?'
"'Yes.'
"'Well, then, how can God be going after Thompson? Is it a physical pursuit?'
"'No. It is a moral pursuit.'
"'A moral pursuit! What's that? What is God after?'
"'He is after Thompson's love.'
"And then we, the Jesuit and the Buddhist, began to follow the windings and turnings of that wondrous poem, the most mystic and spiritual thing