ABSTRACT
Hopkins's discussion of matter, form and motion in Aristotle's Metaphysics at a time when he was reading Newman and the Greek fathers strongly suggests that this discussion relates to similar considerations in patristic philosophical theology. Greek writing on the subject of energeia was based on St Paul's use of the term and this conception of activity or energy, as developed by Paul and the fathers, is key to Hopkins's extraordinarily dynamic view of being. In the first part of the poem, Hopkins suggests a world charged or enlivened by the energies of God: stones ring, fire and flame emanate from kingfishers or dragonflies. In discussing the idea of energeia or actuality in Hopkins, it is important to consider too the role of Duns Scotus, one of the most influential philosopher-theologians of the middle ages. Hopkins's exuberant discovery of Duns Scotus is well known, though what remains little discussed is Scotus's development of Aristotle's conception of actuality.
