This assortment of 20 essays, which includes a survey of the current state of criticism and a comprehensive, bibliographical tabular analysis of Hopkins scholarship from 1920 to 1984, sustains the momentum established globally during the Hopkins centenary of 1989. Scholars and critics, both seasoned veterans such as Norman MacKenzie and newer stars like Cary Plotkin, contribute ambitious elucidations of Hopkins' life and works. The large effect is that of a Baconian enterprise in which the life and oeuvre of a major presence in modern poetry is swarmed over, illuminated, and, thereby, preserved in perpetuity. In this collection, Hopkins proves to be a "critical mass" capable of triggering a seemingly endless chain reaction of response and counter-response.