(From a reader)
Mr. Derbyshire:
I have a copy of “The Top 500 Poems” by William Harmon (Columbia, 1992). The
poems were selected by using Granger’s Index to determine which poems have
been anthologized most often.
Hopkins is represented by 12 poems. (Only Shakespeare, Donne, Blake,
Dickinson, Yeats, and Wordsworth are represented by more.) Here they are, in
order of their popularity as indicated by an index in Top 500:
5. Pied Beauty
30. The Windhover
36. God’s Grandeur
44. Spring and Fall
125. Felix Randal
126. No Worst, There is None
191. Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord
260. Spring
286. Heaven-Haven
321. Inversnaid
490. Habit of Perfection
491. Carrion Comfort
Considering Hopkins’ small poetic output, a dozen poems in the top 500 is
quite remarkable, I think.
Thanks for promoting Hopkins at The Corner.