Hopkins' "dead letters" and Victorian Postal Reform

Gerard Manley Hopkins' use of dead letters in 'I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark, not Day' is likely to refer in part to the Victorian postal reform and the office for collecting undeliverable mail. The poem analyzes boundaries between belief and doubt, which tie to the use of the Dead...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Victorian poetry 1992-07, Vol.30 (2), p.165-170
Main Author: Platizky, Roger
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
Brief Articles
British & Irish literature
Criticism and interpretation
English literature
English poetry
Hopkins, Gerard Manley (1844-1889)
Letter writing
Literary criticism
Modernist poetry
Poetry
Portrayals
Post offices
Postal service
Reference letters
Religious poetry
Sonnets
Soul
Victorians
Written correspondence
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Summary:Gerard Manley Hopkins' use of dead letters in 'I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark, not Day' is likely to refer in part to the Victorian postal reform and the office for collecting undeliverable mail. The poem analyzes boundaries between belief and doubt, which tie to the use of the Dead Letter Office through questions of the postal reform's success. However, the poem does not necessarily criticize the progress because most dead letters were the fault of the sender rather than the system and so can represent the success or failure of relations between self and society or even self and God.
ISSN:0042-5206