Thomas Hardy

143 Pages·2004·0.843 MB·English

by  Marson, Janyce

Thomas
Hardy
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
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Thomas Hardy
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Thomas
Hardy
© 2004 by Chelsea House Publishers, a subsidiary of
Haights Cross Communications.
Introduction © 2004 by Harold Bloom.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written
permission of the publisher.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
First Printing
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thomas Hardy / [edited by] Harold Bloom.
p. cm. — (Bloom’s major poets)
Includes index.
ISBN 0-7910-7891-4
1. Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928—Poetic works. I. Bloom, Harold. II.
Series.
PR4757.P58T48 2004
821’.8—dc22
2004003702
Contributing Editor: Janyce Marson
Cover design by Keith Trego
Layout by EJB Publishing Services
CONTENTS
User’s Guide 7
About the Editor 8
Editor’s Note 9
Introduction 10
Biography of Thomas Hardy 16
Critical Analysis of “Hap” 25
Critical Views on “Hap” 28
Joanna Cullen Brown on the Rhetoric of the
Mechanical Universe 28
Dennis Taylor on the Language of Personification 31
Robert Langbaum on Hardy’s Late Romanticism 33
Paul Zeitlow on the Dramatic Posturing of the Speaker 35
Critical Analysis of “Neutral Tones” 37
Critical Views on “Neutral Tones” 39
Samuel Hynes on the Characteristics of
Hardy’s Mature Style 39
J.O. Bailey on “Neutral Tones” as a Poem
about Ruins 40
Trevor Johnson on Hopelessness and Disillusion 42
Dennis Taylor on Hardy’s Word Game 44
Robert Langbaum on Hardy’s Modernism 46
Critical Analysis of “During Wind and Rain” 48
Critical Views on “During Wind and Rain” 51
Samuel Hynes on the Imagery of Tone 51
Geoffrey Harvey on the Universality of
Lived Experience 53
Joanna Cullen Brown on Journey through
the Stages of Life 56
U.C. Knoepflmacher on Autobiographical Details 59
John Paul Riquelme on the Influence of Shelley 63
John Hughes on Music as a Link to the Transcendent 66
Critical Analysis of “The Convergence of the Twain” 68
Critical Views on “The Convergence of the Twain” 71
Samuel Hynes on Elements of Contradiction 71
William H. Pritchard on Hardy’s Inventiveness 74
Patricia Clements on the Exclusion of Consciousness 77
Joanna Cullen Brown on the Sensuality of
“Convergence of the Twain” 80
Tim Armstrong on Fate and Human Error 83
Critical Analysis of “The Darkling Thrush” 89
Critical Views on “The Darkling Thrush” 92
Merryn Williams on the Influence of Keats and Shelley 92
John Bayley on Hardy’s Treatment of Birds 95
Geoffrey Harvey on “The Darkling Thrush” as a
Modern Lament 98
Robert Langbaum on Hardy’s Response to
Keats and Shelley 101
Brian Green on the Speaker’s Emotional State 104
Peter Widdowson on the Status of Despair 108
Barbara Hardy on “The Darkling Thrush” as a
Threshold Poem 112
John Hughes on Hardy’s Ambivalent Attitude
Towards Music 114
Critical Analysis of “Afterwards” 119
Critical Views on “Afterwards” 122
Merryn Williams on Curious Optimism 122
Trevor Johnson on Hardy’s Family History 124
Barbara Hardy on Hardy’s Modest Self-elegy 128
Works by Thomas Hardy 131
Works about Thomas Hardy 133
Acknowledgments 138
Index of Themes and Ideas 140
USER’S GUIDE
This volume is designed to present biographical, critical, and
bibliographical information on the author and the author’s best-
known or most important poems. Following Harold Bloom’s
editor’s note and introduction is a concise biography of the
author that discusses major life events and important literary
accomplishments. A critical analysis of each poem follows,
tracing significant themes, patterns, and motifs in the work. As
with any study guide, it is recommended that the reader read the
poem beforehand and have a copy of the poem being discussed
available for quick reference.
A selection of critical extracts, derived from previously
published material, follows each thematic analysis. In most cases,
these extracts represent the best analysis available from a number
of leading critics. Because these extracts are derived from
previously published material, they will include the original
notations and references when available. Each extract is cited,
and readers are encouraged to check the original publication as
they continue their research. A bibliography of the author’s
writings, a list of additional books and articles on the author and
their work, and an index of themes and ideas conclude the
volume.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Harold Bloom is Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale
University. He is the author of over 20 books, and the editor of
more than 30 anthologies of literary criticism.
Professor Bloom’s works include Shelley’s Mythmaking (1959),
The Visionary Company (1961), Blake’s Apocalypse (1963), Yeats
(1970), A Map of Misreading (1975), Kabbalah and Criticism
(1975), Agon: Toward a Theory of Revisionism (1982), The American
Religion (1992), The Western Canon (1994), and Omens of
Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, and Resurrection (1996).
The Anxiety of Influence (1973) sets forth Professor Bloom’s
provocative theory of the literary relationships between the great
writers and their predecessors. His most recent books include
Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, a 1998 National Book
Award finalist, How to Read and Why(2000), Stories and Poems for
Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages (2001), Genius: A Mosaic
of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds (2002), and Hamlet:
Poem Unlimited (2003).
Professor Bloom earned his Ph.D. from Yale University in
1955 and has served on the Yale faculty since then. He is a 1985
MacArthur Foundation Award recipient and served as the
Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University
in 1987–88. In 1999 he was awarded the prestigious American
Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Criticism.
Professor Bloom is the editor of several other Chelsea House
series in literary criticism, including BLOOM’S MAJOR SHORT
STORY WRITERS, BLOOM’S MAJOR NOVELISTS, BLOOM’S MAJOR
DRAMATISTS, BLOOM’S MODERN CRITICAL INTERPRETATIONS,
BLOOM’S MODERN CRITICAL VIEWS, BLOOM’S BIOCRITIQUES,
BLOOM’S GUIDES, BLOOM’S MAJOR LITERARY CHARACTERS, and
BLOOM’SPERIODSTUDIES.
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EDITOR’S NOTE
My Introduction centers upon Thomas Hardy’s last book of
poems, Winter Words, and upon its exemplification of Shelley’s
lifelong influence upon Hardy.
As this little volume gives more than thirty critical extracts
dealing with six of Hardy’s strongest poems, I can indicate here
only a few that are of particular interest to me. These include
Robert Langbaum upon “Hap,” Samuel Hynes on “Neutral
Tones,” and John Paul Riquelme on “During Wind and Rain.”
“The Convergence of the Twain” is commended for its
inventiveness by William H. Pritchard, while John Bayley and
Barbara Hardy equally are eloquent upon “The Darkling
Thrush.” Hardy’s personal history is related by Trevor Johnson
to the elegiac “Afterwards.”
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