Changes

==Personal Life and Spiritual Struggle==

==Personal Life and Spiritual Struggle==

Many critics have concluded that Hopkins was a repressed homosexual, who experienced but did not fulfil desire for young men and boys. In ''Secreted Desires: The Major Uranians - Hopkins, Pater and Wilde,'' Matthew Kaylor argues that Hopkins “sublimated most if not all of his paederastic desires”. In a letter of 1887 Hopkins refers to the “charm” of beautiful young boys who provide him with temptation.

Many critics have concluded that Hopkins was a repressed homosexual, who experienced but did not fulfil desire for young men and boys. In ''Secreted Desires: The Major Uranians - Hopkins, Pater and Wilde,'' Matthew Kaylor argues that Hopkins “sublimated most if not all of his paederastic desires”. In a letter of 1887 Hopkins refers to the “charm” of beautiful young boys who provide him with temptation.

He is according to Kaylor “tantalizingly close to the object of his paederastic desires”. At Oxford he fell in love with a boy aged 17, whose death in a drowning accident devastated him. <ref> ''Secreted Desires: The Major Uranians - Hopkins, Pater and Wilde,'' 2006, xvii, 97, 189, 356. See https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=8021041269 </ref>

He is according to Kaylor “tantalizingly close to the object of his paederastic desires”. At Oxford he fell in love with a boy aged 17, whose death in a drowning accident devastated him.<ref>''Secreted Desires: The Major Uranians - Hopkins, Pater and Wilde,'' 2006, xvii, 97, 189, 356. See https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=8021041269</ref>

These tendencies are visible in his poem "The Bugler's First Communion", which describes a boy "tender as a pushed peach" and wishes he could always remain innocent. <ref>Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Literary Life

These tendencies are visible in his poem "The Bugler's First Communion", which describes a boy "tender as a pushed peach" and wishes he could always remain innocent.<ref>Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Literary Life

By Gerald Roberts, Springer, 1994, 82 </ref>.

By Gerald Roberts, Springer, 1994, 82</ref>

In his poem "Epithalamion" (which means a celebration of marriage) he describes a man being thrilled watching boys swim naked in a stream. <ref>Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918. 72. Epithalamion </ref>

In his poem "Epithalamion" (which means a celebration of marriage) he describes a man being thrilled watching boys swim naked in a stream.<ref>Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918. 72. Epithalamion</ref>

However critics and biographers agree that Hopkins did sublimate his desires and remained faithful to his Jesuit vows.

However critics and biographers agree that Hopkins did sublimate his desires and remained faithful to his Jesuit vows.