The Hound of Heaven

"The Hound of Heaven" is a 182-line poem written by English poet Francis Thompson (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'' (1917). Thompson's work was praised by G. K. Chesterton, and it was also an influence on J. R. R. Tolkien, 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 ''The Hound of Heaven'' (1919)
*Humphrey John Stewart The Hound of Heaven (1924)
* Miriam Gideon ''The Hound of Heaven'' (1945)
*Maurice Jacobson ''The Hound of Heaven'' (1953)
* Howard Blake ''Benedictus'' (1980)
* Ronald Corp ''The Hound of Heaven'' (2009)

Influence

* In 2014, N. D. Wilson 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 (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 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 in ''Brown II'', the remedy phase of the famous decision on school desegregation.
* The Christian alternative rock band Daniel Amos wrote a song titled ''Hound of Heaven'' on their 1978 album '' Horrendous Disc'' that is based on the Thompson poe
Review of ''Horrendous Disc''
* Contemporary Christian music artist Michael Card 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's 1965 book ''The Gospel According to Peanuts'' where he describes Snoopy 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, a geneticist who pioneered the evolutionary theory of altruism and suicide (among other things), before becoming a committed Christian and giving away all his possessions to the poor.
* In 1935, Paramahansa Yogananda, 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, 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's novel, ''A Pocketful of Rye'', 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's ''Rebecca''.
* 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''.
* "The Hound of Heaven" is the first chapter in John Stott'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 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's book, ''The Hero with a Thousand Faces''.
* In 1970, Canadian artist William Kurelek used lines from "The Hound of Heaven" as titles for his "Nature, Poor Stepdame, A Series of Sixteen Farm Paintings".
* In 1933, Halliday Sutherland 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 cites the poem admiringly in his novel ''The Guards''.
* "The Hound of Heaven" inspired Norwegian composer Fartein Valen (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.
* The poem is mentioned and lines quoted in the novel ''Escape from Hell'' (2009) by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
* In April 2020, in an interview with Phoebe Waller-Bridge on his show ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'', Stephen Colbert told her that he thought the fox that appeared in her series ''Fleabag'' 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 Heaven
Librivox audio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hound of Heaven, The
1893 poems
Christian poetry
English poems