Well, when compiling the list, my sole criterion was memorizability, based

on my own success in memorizing the pieces in question. Felix Randal

I have found

eminently memorizable. I’m not sure why this should be so, and I would

certainly agree that Hopkins is, in a lot of ways, a “difficult” poet. The

thing has been lodged happily in my head for 30-odd years, though, and shows

no signs of fading. Line 12 I find so powerful I used it in an obituary

notice for my father. Lines 13 and 14 are exquisitely beautiful, and if

that is not plain to you after saying them to yourself a few times, you had

better leave poetry alone.