"The Hound of Heaven" is a 182-line
poem
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...
written by English poet
Francis Thompson
Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...
(1859–1907). The poem became famous and was the source of much of Thompson's posthumous reputation. The poem was first printed in 1890, in the periodical ''Merry England'', later to appear in Thompson's first volume of poems in 1893. It was included in the ''
Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse
Several anthologies of religious poetry have been published by Oxford University Press.
''Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse'' (1921)
The ''Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse'' was a poetry anthology edited by Daniel Howard Sinclair Nichol ...
'' (1917). Thompson's work was praised by
G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...
, and it was also an influence on
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
, who presented a paper on Thompson in 1914.
The Jesuit J.F.X. O'Conor remarks of the Christian themes of the poem that,
"The name is strange. It startles one at first. It is so bold, so new, so fearless. It does not attract, rather the reverse. But when one reads the poem this strangeness disappears. The meaning is understood. As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in its running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, with unhurrying and imperturbed pace, so does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace. And though in sin or in human love, away from God it seeks to hide itself, Divine grace follows after, unwearyingly follows ever after, till the soul feels its pressure forcing it to turn to Him alone in that never ending pursuit."
Musical settings
*
William Henry Harris
Sir William Henry Harris (28 March 1883 – 6 September 1973) was an English organist, choral trainer and composer.
Early life and education
Harris was born in Fulham, London and became a chorister at Holy Trinity, Tulse Hill. At the age o ...
''The Hound of Heaven'' (1919)
*
Humphrey John Stewart
Humphrey John Stewart (22 May 1856 – 1932) was an American composer and organist, born in England. A native of London, he came to the United States in 1886, and served for many years as a church organist on the West Coast. In 1898, he was awar ...
The Hound of Heaven (1924)
*
Miriam Gideon
Miriam Gideon (October 23, 1906 – June 18, 1996) was an American composer.
Life
Miriam Gideon was born in Greeley, Colorado, on October 23, 1906. She studied organ with her uncle Henry Gideon and piano with Felix Fox. She also studied with M ...
''The Hound of Heaven'' (1945)
*
Maurice Jacobson
Maurice Jacobson Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE (1 January 1896 – 2 February 1976) was an English pianist, composer, music publisher and music festival judge. He was also director and later chairman of the music publishing firm ...
''The Hound of Heaven'' (1953)
*
Howard Blake
Howard David Blake (born 28 October 1938) is an English composer, conductor, and pianist whose career has spanned more than 50 years and produced more than 650 works. Blake's most successful work is his soundtrack for Channel 4’s 1982 film ' ...
''Benedictus'' (1980)
*
Ronald Corp
Ronald Geoffrey Corp, (born 4 January 1951) is a composer, conductor and Anglican priest. He is founder and artistic director of the New London Orchestra (NLO) and the New London Children's Choir. Corp is musical director of the London Chorus, a ...
''The Hound of Heaven'' (2009)
Influence
* In 2014,
N. D. Wilson
Nathan David Wilson (born 1978) is an American author of young adult fiction.
Background
Wilson is the son of Calvinist minister Douglas Wilson and author Nancy Wilson. He was named after the biblical figures Nathan and David, and was educated ...
wrote and directed a short film based upon the poem, titled "The Hound of Heaven".
* Thompson's poem is mentioned and quoted in Robert Frost's 1947 play "A Masque of Mercy".
* Thompson's poem was the inspiration for a series of 23 paintings by the American painter
R. H. Ives Gammell
Robert Hale Ives Gammell (1893 – 1981) was an American artist best known for his sequence of paintings based on Francis Thompson's poem " The Hound of Heaven". Gammell painted symbolic images that reflected his study of literature, mythol ...
(1893–1981), ''A Pictorial Sequence Painted by R. H. Ives Gammell Based on The Hound of Heaven'', which was in planning by 1941 and completed in 1956. A reading of ''The Psychology of the Unconscious'' by
C. G. Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phi ...
showed Gammell a way in which he might give visual form to Thompson's poem.
* Thompson's poem is also the source of the phrase, "with all deliberate speed," used by the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
in
''Brown II'', the remedy phase of the famous decision on school
desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...
.
* The
Christian alternative rock
Christian alternative rock is a form of alternative rock music that is lyrically grounded in a Christian worldview. Some critics have suggested that unlike CCM and older Christian rock, Christian alternative rock generally emphasizes musical ...
band
Daniel Amos
Daniel Amos (aka D. A., Dä) is an American Christian rock band formed in 1974 by Terry Scott Taylor on guitars and vocals, Marty Dieckmeyer on bass guitar, Steve Baxter (musician), Steve Baxter on guitars and Jerry Chamberlain on lead guitars. ...
wrote a song titled ''Hound of Heaven'' on their 1978 album ''
Horrendous Disc
''Horrendous Disc'' is the third studio album by Christian rock band Daniel Amos. Originally recorded in 1978 for Maranatha! Music, it was not released until 1981 when it was issued by Larry Norman's Solid Rock Records, weeks before the release o ...
'' that is based on the Thompson poe
Review of ''Horrendous Disc''*
Contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...
artist
Michael Card
Michael Card (born April 11, 1957) is an American, Christian singer-songwriter, musician, author, and radio host from Franklin, Tennessee. He is best known for his contributions in contemporary Christian music, which combine folk-style melod ...
also wrote and recorded a song called "Hound of Heaven" based on Thompson's poem for his 1981 debut album ''First Light''.
* "The Hound of Heaven" is the fifth chapter in
Robert L. Short
Robert L. Short (1932 – July 6, 2009) was an American Christian minister and the author of several books of "popular theology", including
the 1965 bestseller ''The Gospel According to Peanuts''.
Life and career
Short was born and raised ...
's 1965 book ''
The Gospel According to Peanuts
''The Gospel According to Peanuts'' is a 1965 book written by Robert L. Short about Charles M. Schulz's ''Peanuts'' comic strip. The book is based on Short's use of the ''Peanuts'' characters to illustrate his lectures about the Christian Gospel. ...
'' where he describes
Snoopy
Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...
as a "little Christ" carrying out "Christ's ambivalent work of humbling the exalted and exalting the humble."
* "The Hound of Heaven" was mentioned in the suicide note of
George R. Price
George Robert Price (October 6, 1922 – January 6, 1975) was an American population geneticist. Price is often noted for his formulation of the Price equation in 1967.
Originally a physical chemist and later a science journalist, he moved ...
, a geneticist who pioneered the evolutionary theory of
altruism
Altruism is the principle and moral practice of concern for the welfare and/or happiness of other human beings or animals, resulting in a quality of life both material and spiritual. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures and a core as ...
and suicide (among other things), before becoming a committed Christian and giving away all his possessions to the poor.
* In 1935,
Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellows ...
, an Indian spiritual master, included "The Hound of Heaven" in one of his phonographic albums, "Songs of My Heart". Today, his organization,
Self-Realization Fellowship
Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) is a worldwide spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920 and legally incorporated as a non-profit religious organization in 1935, to serve as Yogananda's instrument for the preservation ...
, offers this album in the form of a CD. Kamala Silva, a purported direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, received the gift of a printing of the "Hound of Heaven" from Yogananda and he also recited it for her.
* In
A. J. Cronin
Archibald Joseph Cronin (19 July 1896 – 6 January 1981), known as A. J. Cronin, was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known novel is ''The Citadel'' (1937), about a Scottish doctor who serves in a Welsh mining village before achievi ...
's novel, ''
A Pocketful of Rye
''A Pocketful of Rye'' is a 1969 novel by A. J. Cronin about a young Scottish doctor, Carroll, and his life in Switzerland. It is a sequel to '' A Song of Sixpence''.
As with several of his other novels, Cronin drew on his own experiences as ...
'', the protagonist Carroll reads the poem as a young man, forgets it, and suffers from a recurring nightmare that finally leads to his conversion.
* A short passage from the poem appears in chapter four of
Daphne du Maurier
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Geor ...
's ''
Rebecca
Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...
''.
* Lines from the poem are recited between the discussion during the last scene in "The last enemy", which is 2nd episode, 3rd season of ''
Inspector Morse
Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM, is the eponymous fictional character in the series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter. On television, he appears in the 33-episode drama series ''Inspector Morse'' (1987–2000), ...
''.
* "The Hound of Heaven" is the first chapter in
John Stott
John Robert Walmsley Stott (27 April 1921 – 27 July 2011) was an English Anglican cleric and theologian who was noted as a leader of the worldwide evangelical movement. He was one of the principal authors of the Lausanne Covenant in 1974. In ...
's book ''Why I am a Christian'' in which he confesses that he is a Christian not because of the influence of his parents and teachers, nor to his own personal decision, but to being relentlessly pursued by 'the Hound of Heaven', that is, Jesus Christ himself.
* The main character is reading a book by this name in the first episode of the Irish TV series ''
Jack Taylor''.
* In 1955, a love letter from Suzanne Kempe to her philosophy lecturer, Sydney Sparkes Orr, quotes excerpts from the poem. Their affair was later brought to trial in Tasmania.
* In describing her journey from atheism and agnosticism to devout Christianity, Fox News commentator
Kirsten Powers
Kirsten Anne Powers (born December 14, 1967) is an American author, liberal columnist, and political analyst. She currently writes for ''USA Today'', and is an on-air political analyst at CNN, where she appears regularly on ''Anderson Cooper 360 ...
said, "The Hound of Heaven had pursued me and caught me...."
* "The Hound of Heaven" was used as an example of the hero's "refusal of the call" to adventure in
Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the ...
's book, ''
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
''The Hero with a Thousand Faces'' (first published in 1949) is a work of comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell, in which the author discusses his theory of the mythological structure of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world myths ...
''.
* In 1970, Canadian artist
William Kurelek
William Kurelek, (March 3, 1927 – November 3, 1977) was a Canadian artist and writer. His work was influenced by his childhood on the prairies, his Ukrainian-Canadian roots, his struggles with mental illness, and his conversion to Roman Catho ...
used lines from "The Hound of Heaven" as titles for his "Nature, Poor Stepdame, A Series of Sixteen Farm Paintings".
* In 1933,
Halliday Sutherland
Halliday Gibson Sutherland (1882–1960) was a Scottish medical doctor, writer, opponent of eugenics and the producer of Britain's first public health education cinema film in 1911.
Private life
Halliday Sutherland was born in Glasgow, Scotland ...
used a phrase from the second line of the poem as the title of his best-selling autobiography "The Arches of the Years".
* In 2001
Ken Bruen
Ken Bruen (born 1951) is an Irish writer of hard-boiled and noir crime fiction.
Biography Education and teaching career
Born in Galway, he was educated at Gormanston College, County Meath and later at Trinity College Dublin, where he earned a ...
cites the poem admiringly in his novel ''The Guards''.
* "The Hound of Heaven" inspired Norwegian composer
Fartein Valen
Olav Fartein Valen (25 August 1887 – 14 December 1952) was a Norwegian composer, notable for his work in atonal polyphonic music. He developed a polyphony similar to Bach's counterpoint, but based on motivic working and dissonance rather th ...
(1887–1952) to compose his ''Piano Sonata No. 2'', Op. 38 (1941). The sonata's three movements reflect different parts of Thompson's poem. The piece has been recorded by
Glenn Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould (; né Gold; September 25, 1932October 4, 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. He was one of the most famous and celebrated pianists of the 20th century, and was renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann ...
.
* The poem is mentioned and lines quoted in the novel ''Escape from Hell'' (2009) by
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are ''Ringworld'' (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, ''The Mote in God's Eye'' ...
and
Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960s ...
* In April 2020, in an interview with
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge (born 14 July 1985) is an English actress and screenwriter. She is best known as the creator, head writer, and star of the BBC sitcom ''Fleabag'' (2016–2019), which was based on her one-woman show of the same name. S ...
on his show ''
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night news and liberal political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Spartina Productions and CBS Studios, it is the second it ...
'',
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...
told her that he thought the fox that appeared in her series ''
Fleabag
''Fleabag'' is a British comedy-drama television series created and written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, based on her one-woman show first performed in 2013 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It was originally produced by Two Brothers Pictures for dig ...
'' was the Hound of Heaven, which appeared to astound and delight Waller-Bridge.
References
External links
"The Hound of Heaven" sources Traditional Fine Arts Organization
The Hound of HeavenLibrivox audio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hound of Heaven, The
1893 poems
Christian poetry
English poems