Thomas Hardy

by

Joyce Hemsley

Series of famous British Names:

THOMAS HARDY
British Poet and Novelist.
Born - eighteen-forty in Dorset, England.
Died - nineteen twenty-eight in Dorset.
Ashes buried in Poets Corner,
Westminster Abbey.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thomas Hardy was educated at Dorchester
and on leaving school, trained as an
architect. Early in his life, he started
writing poems; and attended evening classes
at Kings College. He was very interested
in all the classics...Shakespeare, Spencer,
and Mills. He also enjoyed classical music.

At age thirty-four, he married Emma Lavinia
Gifford, and at this time he wrote the well-
remembered and successful novel - "Far from
The Madding Crowd", following on with many
more novels. But Hardy's novels caused
discontent, because of the debatable
subject matter therein; and after writing
"Jude The Obscure" (1895), he decided to
retire from writing novels and concentrate
on his poetical talent.

Emma died in 1912, and later Thomas Hardy
married Florence Dugdale, forty years his
junior. A group of poems were written
entitled "Veteris" Vestigiae Flammae".
He was very interested in all kinds of
poetry - blank verse to lyrical, and also
in special poetry form. Hence The Triolet,
one of which I now quote:

How Great My Grief (Triolet)

How great my grief, my joys how few,
Since first it was my fate to know thee,
Have the slow years not brought to view
How great my grief, my joys how few
Nor memory shaped old times anew
Nor loving-kindness helped to show thee
How great my grief, my joys how few,
Since first it was my fate to know thee.

by Thomas Hardy - awarded the OM in 200.

Personally I am beginning to enjoy his
poetry more and more - especially his
"She to Him" series of poems; he was
truly a great Poet...... Joyce Hemsley.

NEXT?
Why don't you look at Postcard from a Friend
by: Joyce Hemsley
from: Sunderland, England, UK

To visit all of Joyce Hemsley's poems, click HERE

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