THE POETRY PAGES OF THE THOMAS HARDY ASSOCIATION
Hardy's illustration for his poem
"Nature's Questioning," taken from the edition of Wessex Poems and Other Verses
in the first volume of The Complete Poetical Works of Thomas Hardy, edited by Samuel Hynes (1982)
in the first volume of The Complete Poetical Works of Thomas Hardy, edited by Samuel Hynes (1982)
Contents and links as of September 2009:
- A cumulative commentary on theme and form in Thomas Hardy's poetry. This will consist of a series of interrelated essays on individual poems. The first series considers Hardy's use of antiquities. As the collection progresses, readers will be able to follow references to a set of key terms (with special attention to issues of literary geography, allusion, and poetic device). Selected comments from readers will be posted on the site; please email me if you would like to contribute. The numbering of poems in these pages refers to Thomas Hardy: The Complete Poems, edited by James Gibson, Palgrave, 2001. Please consult the Bibliographical Note below for a list of sources cited so far.
- Guides to authoritative editions of Hardy's poetry (by Professor Dennis Taylor of Boston College) and to collecting volumes of the poetry (by Mark Simons).
- A space for readers to post suggestions for a collaborative selection of Hardy's poetry, discuss the choices of others, and work towards an ideal volume of selected poems.
Contents planned for the near future:
- Forthcoming in the antiquities series:
- A commentary on "The Roman Road" (poem 218).
- An essay on John Cowper Powys' novel Maiden Castle.
- An essay on the significance of Troy and the Troy Game in Hardy's work.
- A discussion of musical settings of Hardy's poetry. The first entry will deal with the work of British composer Gerald Finzi.
- An annotated bibliography of Hardy scholarship. The first entry in the series will address Tom Paulin's Thomas Hardy: The Poetry of Perception (1975).
Please click on this link to go to the Poem of the Month page of the Thomas Hardy Association.
Please write with comments or suggestions:
Philip PurchaseLecturer, The Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities
Washington University in St. Louis