Synopsis of The May Magnificat

The poem was written at Stonyhurst in May, 1878. It was apparently the tradition of this Catholic college that during the month of May (Mary's month), the students would pen poems to Mary, in whatever language they liked, and attach them to her statue in the college. Hopkins wrote four or five such poems, two of which are in Latin. Another, The Blessed Virgin Compared to the Air We Breathe, was written on another stay at the college in 1883.

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