Poems of francis thompson

A great Christian poet died today in His life was hard and his end came sadly too soon, but Francis Thompson is remembered for some of the greatest spiritual verse in the English language. Born in in Preston, Lancashire, he was destined by his Catholic doctor father for the medical profession.

Francis thompson poems pdf

He had neither the aptitude nor the interest, however, and after suffering a nervous breakdown ended up running away, penniless, to London. While he had no interest in his father's profession, he had a passion for poetry and was a gifted writer. It was hard for him to support himself in this career, however, and he took odd jobs — working for a bootmaker and selling matches among them — in order to survive.

He became addicted to opium and lived rough on the streets of Charing Cross and the Embankment.

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He was rescued by the kindness of a prostitute, who he never identified but regarded as his 'saviour'. He continued to write poetry and was 'discovered' by the poets and publishers Wilfred and Alice Meynell, who took him into their home and cared for him. Thompson became a well-known and respected poet, essayist and spiritual writer, but he never recovered from the hardships of his earlier years.

He died at the age of While many of his poems are profoundly beautiful and insightful, two stand out. His most famous is The Hound of Heaven , which characterises God as a relentless tracker, hunting down his human quarry:. I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind It is mesmerising in its depiction of the inexorable follower, revealed in the last lines to be eternal love.

One of the great recordings is by Richard Burton.