‘The child is father to the man.'

Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1844 - 1889

‘The child is father to the man.'
How can he be? The words are wild.
Suck any sense from that who can:
‘The child is father to the man.'
No; what the poet did write ran,
‘The man is father to the child.'
‘The child is father to the man!'
How can he be? The words are wild!

Hopkins was a wonderfully inventive poet from whom all can learn.