The Fourth Order of Humanity

In this brief essay, Francis Thompson (1859-1907), perhaps best-known for his poem The Hound of Heaven (also available in Catholic Culture Audiobooks), here reflects whimsically on…dolls. Thompson’s parents were converts to Catholicism, and Thompson himself went on to become a major poet in the Catholic literary revival in England in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A prey to drugs and other problems while trying to make his way in London, he was in effect rescued by Alice and Wilfrid Meynell. Thompson went on to write both inspiring poetry and literary criticism, most notably his study of Shelley. Though he studied medicine, he loved literature and writing. Thompson unfortunately suffered from a weak constitution which led to numerous health problems and ultimately his death from tuberculosis at the age of 47.

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