Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June, 1840 – 11 January, 1928) was a novelist and poet, generally regarded as among the greatest poets and novelists in English literature. The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-imaginary county of Wessex, is marked by imaginative poetic descriptions, and a foreboding sense of fatalism.

Hardy's Poetry

• Wessex Poems (1898)
• Poems of the Past and Present (1901)
• The Dynasts (1904)
• The Dynasts, Part 2 (1906)
• The Dynasts, Part 3 (1908)
• Satires of Circumstance (1914)
• Collected Poems (1919)
• Late Lyrics and Earlier (1922)
• Human Shows (1925)

His poetry was not as well received by his contemporaries as his novels had been, but critical response to Hardy's poetry has warmed considerably in recent years, in part because of the influence of Philip Larkin. His poems largely inhabit the same semi-fictional Wessex of the novels, and deal with themes of disappointment in love and life, and humankind's long struggle against the forces that control the world and which are indifferent to human suffering.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His poems range in style from the epic closet drama Dynasts to smaller, and often hopeful or even cheerful, poems of the moment. Here for example is The Darkling Thrush dated 31 December 1900.

Related Topics:
Closet drama - 31 December - 1900

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:I leant upon a coppice gate

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  When Frost was spectre-grey,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:And Winter's dregs made desolate

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  The weakening eye of day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:The tangled bine-stems scored the sky

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  Like strings of broken lyres,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:And all mankind that haunted nigh

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  Had sought their household fires.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:The land's sharp features seemed to be

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  The Century's corpse outleant,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:His crypt the cloudy canopy,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  The wind his death-lament.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:The ancient pulse of germ and birth

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  Was shrunken hard and dry,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:And every spirit upon earth

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  Seemed fervourless as I.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:At once a voice arose among

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  The bleak twigs overhead

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:In a full-hearted evensong

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  Of joy illimited;

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:An agèd thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  In blast-beruffled plume,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Had chosen thus to fling his soul

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  Upon the growing gloom.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:So little cause for carolings

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  Of such ecstatic sound

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Was written on terrestrial things

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  Afar or nigh around,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:That I could think there trembled through

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  His happy good-night air

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Some blessèd Hope, whereof he knew

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:  And I was unaware.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This has many elements that are typical of Hardy's work. The strong first person voice, telling the story that the poem is centred around; an incident in nature triggering deep reflections in the observer (compare Hardy's poem about the lunar eclipse); the rural or bucolic setting; the desolate landscape; the struggle of small forces pitted against inimical nature; the faint but real possibility of redemption and hope at last.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Note also the formal rhythm and rhyme, and the high poetic tone, coupled with delightfully simple phrases such as "happy good-night air".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~