"The Wreck of the Deutschland"

For Lent V, I am sharing my recital of “The Wreck of the Deutschland”, which is full of Lenten subject matter. Here, Hopkins tests the limits of language in an attempt to ask God hard questions about suffering and salvation. In multiple places, his language falls apart in the endeavor, sometimes into repetition or pauses and sometimes into abstract imagery and neologisms. (The beauty of the poem, of course, is how he is always in control of the form and meter, even when portraying language that is breaking apart into chaos.)

This is a rough video of my practice performance, so there are mistakes (you won't notice them, but they're all I hear), and the sound cuts out a bit. Sadly, I was injured the night before we were scheduled to record it for real. So, in the spirit of Lent, here is my broken version of my favorite poem.