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A Commentary on the Poems of THOMAS HARDY

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A Commentary on the Poems of THOMAS HARDY A Commentary on the Poems of THOMAS HARDY By the same author THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE (Macmillan Critical Commentaries) A HARDY COMPANION ONE RARE FAIR WOMAN Thomas Hardy's Letters to Florence Henniker, 1893-1922 (edited, with Evelyn Hardy) A JANE AUSTEN COMPANION A BRONTE COMPANION THOMAS HARDY AND THE MODERN WORLD (edited,for the Thomas Hardy Society) A Commentary on the Poems of THOMAS HARDY F. B. Pinion ISBN 978-1-349-02511-4 ISBN 978-1-349-02509-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-02509-1 © F. B. Pinion 1976 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 15t edition 1976 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission First published 1976 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in New York Dublin Melbourne Johannesburg and Madras SBN 333 17918 8 This book is sold subject to the standard conditions of the Net Book Agreement Quid quod idem in poesi quoque eo evaslt ut hoc solo scribendi genere ..• immortalem famam assequi possit? From A. D. Godley's public oration at Oxford in I920 when the degree of Doctor of Letters was conferred on Thomas Hardy: 'Why now, is not the excellence of his poems such that, by this type of writing alone, he can achieve immortal fame ...? (The Life of Thomas Hardy, 397-8) 'The Temporary the AU' (Hardy's design for the sundial at Max Gate) Contents List of Drawings and Maps IX List of Plates X Preface xi Reference Abbreviations xiv Chronology xvi COMMENTS AND NOTES I Wessex Poems (1898) 3 2 Poems of the Past and the Present (1901) 29 War Poems 30 Poems of Pilgrimage 34 Miscellaneous Poems 38 Imitations, etc. 61 Retrospect 63 3 Time's Laughingstocks (1909) Time's Laughingstocks 64 More Love Lyrics 70 A Set of Country Songs 75 Pieces Occasional and Various 78 4 Satires of Circumstance (1914) 90 Lyrics and Reveries 91 Poems of 1912-13 102 Miscellaneous Pieces 10 9 Satires of Circwnstance II7 5 Moments of Vision (1917) 120 Poems of War and Patriotism 157 Finale 160 viii CONTENTS 6 Late Lyrics and Earlier (1922) 162 7 Human Shows (1925) 201 8 Winter Words (1928) 235 9 Additional Poems 261 Supplementary Notes 268 Glossary of Wessex Place Names 274 General Index 276 Index of Titles 282 List of Drawings and Maps Drawings by Thomas Hardy for 'The Temporary the All' vi 'The Alarm' 14 'My Cecily' 17 'Her Immortality' 19 Maps The Dorchester of Hardy's Boyhood 272 The Heart of Wessex 273 (Hardy's sketches were prepared for Wessex Poems, 1898, and are reproduced by courtesy of the City of Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery) List of plates (between pp. 46 and 47) I Hardy's birthplace, drawn by him Max Gate in 1893 2 'Thoughts of Phena', from the manuscript of Wessex Poems 3 Hardy's sketch ofBeeny Cliff and 'The Figure in the Scene' 4 Church Way, Stinsford Kingston Maurward S High East Street, Dorchester, 1891 Outside the Old Ship Inn: Hardy's drawing for 'Leipzig' 6 Hardy's sketch of the Celtic Cross at St Juliot 7 The footbridge, Sturminster Newton The Frome valley below Lower Bockhampton 8 Emma Lavinia Gifford, 'The woman whom I loved so' Hardy and his wife Florence, 1915 Plates 2 and sb are reproduced by permission of the City ofBirmingham Museums and Art Gallery, 6 by permission of the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection, the New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations, 8a by permission of the Dorset County Museum; 4a and b and 7a and b were taken by the author, and the copyright in them is his. Preface (Superior numbers refer to Supplementary Notes, pp. 268-70) THERE are 918 poems in the eight volumes of Hardy's published poetry, and notes of varying length are provided for all but a small number on which it seems superfluous to comment. Notes are also included on twenty-three which have remained uncollected until recently, and, more briefly, on units which may be regarded as poems in The Dynasts and The Queen of Cornwall. The book which is required most of all for references is F. E. Hardy's The Life of Thomas Hardy (see p. xiv). About forty of Hardy's surviving poems were written by 1870,* before he settled down to novel-writing; and considerably more than half belong to the period after the completion of the novels and The Dynasts, most of them being written when he was over seventy. Some of the most interesting belong to the years 1865-7; the most moving relate to his wife Emma. In the first three volumes published after her death in 1912, nearly one third of the poems were written about her, or with her in mind. When Hardy asserted that, in general, there was more autobiography in a hundred lines of his poetry than in all his novels, his hyperbole sprang from exasperation (Life, 392). Yet, the more one discovers about the poems, the more true this statement appears. Perhaps, if and when his life is ever seen in its true proportions, it will be found that nothing of great significance has been omitted from his personal revelations. The 'biography' which he and Florence Hardy prepared in his later years should be regarded as complementary to the poems. Mter the earlier portion (which only he could write), much of it suggests that the main task facing them was the selection of entries and * How many of the poems written in London from about 1865 to 1867 were destroyed (Lite. 47. 48. 54) is unknown. and his statements on 25 July 1926. as recorded by Virginia Woolf (A Writer's Diary, London, 1953, p. 92) are very imprecise. He said he had lost many copies, but had found the notes, and re­ written poems from these. '1 am always finding them. I found one the other day; but I don't think I shall find any more.' xii PREFACE passages from notebooks and letters, and that Hardy's further interest extended little beyond checking the typed copy which his wife had prepared. He was much happier writing poetry.* Although opportunities have been taken occasionally to comment on Hardy's style and craftsmanship, the principal aim throughout this commentary has been to provide as far as possible information and background which will assist in the interpretation of the poems. However accurate one's interpretation, literary appreciation is ultimately dependent on individual experience and judgement. One reason why Hardy made a practice of publishing nearly everything he completed in verse was the discovery that poems he did not care for were sometimes highly regarded by readers (Collins, 67).1 Literary judgement depends too on contemporary thought and taste. There must be many who find 'Neutral Tones' a remarkable poem, yet this was the comment it received in 1940: So Hardy wrote in 1867. So any young man who had read Browning and Swinburne might have written. It is a copy of verses, nothing more. His work was in the other harmony of prose. t Perhaps the most significant truth for the reader of Hardy's poetry is to be found in Philip Larkin's declaration that he delights in Hardy's poems because one can read them for years up and down in the Collected Poems, and still be surprised by something newly discovered or previously overlooked.~ Much of the groundwork for this volume was done in the preparation of A Hardy Companion (1968). Since then I have read the greater part of Hardy's correspondence, and there, and elsewhere, come across details that have thrown light on many poems. Uncertainties remain, and much no doubt has been overlooked, but I have done my best not to add to the biographical confusion which has spread in recent years. My principal indebtedness is to R. L. Purdy's notes; and it is to spare the reader some wearisome iteration that I have omitted references for many borrowings from his well-known bibliographical study. My * Compare Florence Hardy's remark: 'He is now ... writing a poem with great spirit•••• Needless to say it is an intensely dismal poem' (26 December 1920; in Viola Meynell (ed.), Friends of a Lifetime, London, 1940). t G. M. Young, in his introduction to Select Poems of Thomas Hardy, London, 1940. :j: Donald Davie, Thomas Hardy and British Poetry, London, 1973, p. 27. PREFACE xiii obligations to J. O. Bailey, with whom I discussed several of the poems some years ago, are expressed in the text. A number of Hardy manu­ script details have been taken from James Gibson's notes for the new edition of Hardy's poems, * and I am very grateful to him for enabling me to see them. Others have helped me in various ways, and to them I wish to express my deep appreciation: John Antell, Evelyn Hardy, A. C. Harrison, and Brigadier J. B. Willis; Miss Margaret Holmes, County Archivist, Dorset; E. J. Huddy, the British Library (Map Room); P. R. G. Marriott, Reference Librarian, Dorset County Library; R. N. R. Peers, Curator of the Dorset County Museum; Mrs L. L. Szladits, Curator of the Berg Collection, New York; Robert Gittings for the suggested link between Horace Moule and 'The Place on the Map'; Miss Mary Henderson for valuable information relative to the question of 'the Runic Stone'; Michael Millgate for a long note on Rosamund Tomson; Kenneth Phelps for news from Lyonnesse and kindly guidance along some of its roads and 'crooked ways'; and Mr and Mrs J.
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