The central issue in the writings of Gerard Manley Hopkins is his understanding of the self. While Hopkins' scholars have studied the phenomenology of Hopkins' notions of selfness, no scholar has studied in depth the hermeneutics of what Hopkins called 'selving.' Hopkins' Achieved Self is a study of 'selving' in Hopkins. Downes examines Hopkins' ideas of the self as a hermeneutical concept, shows how Hopkins formulates in his concept the role of the mental acts Hopkins called 'selving,' and discussed the formation of religious consciousness as a vital component of achieving full selfhood.