Richard Austin to perform Hopkins

Home Culture Richard Austin to perform Hopkins

Poetry performer Richard Austin will return to lend his voice to Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poetry March 19 at 7 p.m in Phillips Auditorium.

The English Department is hosting this encore performance in conjunction with the literary honorary Lambda Iota Tau.

Lorraine Eadie, assistant professor of English, was unable to attend his first performance last spring but says she is excited to have a second chance.

“I think people are drawn to his [Hopkins’] poetry for a few reasons,” Eadie said. “It’s very devotional, so he’s pretty open about his faith, about his love of God, and also about wrestling with God –– about dark valleys or times when he feels distant from God. His poetry is also very dense, tactile, and earthy. He uses a lot of homely images, and even though he’s talking about his faith, there’s this sense of this tangible experience.”

Michael Jordan, professor of English, was so impressed by Austin’s work after listening to his poetry reading at Hillsdale Academy last year that he bought the CD made available after the performance.

“I found it stunning –– it was so remarkable,” Jordan said. “He had such mastery. Hopkin’s verse is not normal verse. It’s got a tremendous amount of alliteration and also what’s called ‘sprung rhythm.’ So it would be this explosion of consonants that was delivered in a very confident way.”