ABSTRACT
In an attempt to avoid the controversial issue of the precise relationship between asceticism and mysticism, Andreach describes the spiritual progress largely in terms of the 'stages' or 'degrees' of spiritual life, rather than the 'ascetic' or 'mystic way'. By Hopkins's interpretation, the operation of the spirit in the soul relates to that 'sigh or aspiration' that slightest 'wish to correspond [my italics]' that is yet the 'life and spirit of man.' The 'sigh of correspondence', Hopkins argues, links or begins to link the imperfect present with the perfect future. Analysing the very passage, Sobolev argues that while Hopkins clearly emphasises a divine presence in the soul, which enables spiritual ascent, However, if Hopkins's 1881 notes on elevating grace are read as the theoretical analysis of a subject treated five years earlier in The Wreck, then the poem's application of patristic contemplative theology must vitally shape the authors's understanding of this discussion.
