Hardy, Housman, and Thomas.

Thomas Hardy


"Hap"
In "Hap," Hardy proposes that IF all of life's sorrows were unavoidably bestowed upon him by a malicious higher power, he would have no choice but to bear them and await death. In the last stanza he admits this to be untrue and then asks the reader about the nature of sorrow. In my interpretation of the text, he seems to suggest that like beauty, joy and sorrow are in the "eye of the beholder" and that life is therefore what we make of it.  Referring to Time and Casualty (the temporal nature of reality and the unpredictability) as the great villains of life, Hardy says
 "These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain."
That is to say that events which might have been experienced as sorrowful, could have easily been construed as joyous events.
The structure of the piece is simple with three stanzas and a gentle rhyming meter, the specific style of which I have yet to learn. The pattern chosen in the first two stanzas is interrupted and expanded in the final stanza as if to evoke a cumulative sense of climax or catharsis interrupting the routine.

"Neutral Tones"
"Neutral Tones" seems to refer to a story of love grown cold. Hardy sets a sublimely bleak scenario in which he and another casually converse outside on a winter day.  The scene is painted in neutral tones such as white and gray.  Hardy describes the eyes and smile of the other person in such a way as to indicate that the mood of the encounter matched the neutral winter tones of fallen grey leaves. He describes the sun as having been
"...white, as though chidden of God,"
This condemned sun is in contrast to the happy, life-giving properties usually attributed to sunshine. The second stanza, describing the gaze of the other as it moves upon the speaker, implies a long history between the two with the line
"Over tedious riddles of years ago;"
and the word "tedious" adds to the sense that love has grown cold. This is further expounded by the startling description of the smile of the other upon the speaker which was

"the deadest thing
Alive enough to have strength to die;
And a grin of bitterness swept thereby
Like an ominous bird a-wing..."

In the last stanza, Hardy explains that his memory of the event near the pond on that winter day is associated with
"lessons that love deceives,"

There is a disillusioned bitterness in the emphatic tone of the last stanza in which the sun is once again claimed to be cursed by God.
The rhyming takes on a pattern of
A
B
B
A
and so on throughout the four stanzas.

"Darkling Thrush"
In the "Darkling Thrush," Hardy yet again paints a picture which is cold and gray, desolate and depressing. He describes looking out at a coppice (thicket) from behind a gate and all that he surveys is dead and gray.  His grim reverie is interrupted by the call of a thrush who bursts into the scene with startling joy and celebration. Hardy explains that whatever joy the thrush speaks of, he (Hardy) is unaware. For
"So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,"

I am beginning to think of Thomas Hardy as having been a brilliant but highly depressed person. This gives me impetus to read the autobiographical information included in the preface to his selected poems.

"New Year's Eve"
For me, "New Year's Eve" is reminiscent of "Hap" wherein Hardy questions higher powers in seeking to understand the source of sorrow and the point of life despite its hardships.   God has finished another year
"In grey, green, white, and brown;"

and has tended to the upkeep and routine of natural processes. The colors chosen here are earthly but cold.  In the second stanza, Hardy asks God
"And what's the good of it?"
He explains that

"If ever a joy be found herein,
Such joy no man had wished to win
If he had ever known!"

At this point, one feels sympathy for Hardy and wonders how it is he lived 88 years without committing suicide.  The rest of the poem describes the character God in less than flattering light as a being acting without logic and unweeting (unknowing).  One can assume that referencing god in a such a way would have seemed blasphemous to many.  Hardy pokes fun at God in "New Year's Eve" as a man who seemingly felt that life itself was a cruel joke.

"Chanel Firing"
"Chanel Firing" describes "gunnery practice out at sea."  One assumes this practice is done by military men because Hardy goes on to speak of war.  The firing of guns causes a stir and disturbs the people and creatures who are calmly resting or attending their affairs. The disturbance is so great as to illicit thoughts of "judgement day." Hardy condemns men of war saying that

"That this is not the judgement-hour
For some of them's a blessed thing,
For if it were they'd have to scour
Hell's floor for so much threatening..."

As in "Hap" and "New Year's Eve," Hardy once again scoffs at things religious and divine.

"The Convergence of the Twain"

This poem was written in memory of the famed Titanic, lost at sea in April of 1912.  Despite the great loss of human life that took place, very little mention is made of the deaths of those on board.  Instead, Hardy presents an ode to the majesty of the vessel alongside the majesty of the mysterious depths where
"Dim moon-eyed fishes near
Gaze at the gilded gear
And query:  'What does this vaingloriousness down here?'..."


The poem is organized in eleven numbered stanzas, each containing three lines with a rhyming scheme of
A
B
A

Hardy chose to end the poem thusly;
"Till the Spinner of the Years
Said 'Now!' And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres."


As mentioned above, the main concern of the poem is in describing the peculiar union of something majestic and man-maid with something majestic, alien, and of nature. The "Spinner of the Years" is the only intelligent living being mentioned in this poem, aside from the slimy creatures of the sea.  The "Spinner of the Years" references the event of the sinking of the Titanic as having been caused by an unseen force.  As usual, Hardy has attributed the tragedies of life to a malicious, god-like force beyond apprehension.

"The Voice"

This poem is an ode to a presumed ex-lover, as evidenced by the line
"When you had changed from the one who was all to me,"

Hardy addresses the poem to the woman and tells her that he hears her calling to him, or was it just the breeze?  The lost love has left the speaker despotic and nostalgic.  He speaks of fair days of yore and describes himself in his current state as
"...faltering forward,
Leaves around me falling,
Wind oozing thin through the thorn from norward
And the woman calling."

The oozing wind is a particularly clever description. It is counter-intuitive and therefore novel.  Being a  novel and innovative way of thinking about the wind, it lends itself well to a clarity of expression with regard to the intense emotions of the speaker.





A.E.  Housman

"[Loveliest of the Trees, the Cherry Now]"

It is unclear to this reader why Housman chose to punctuate this title as he did but it must of been a meaningful choice for the writer. The short poem consists of three stanzas with a consistent rhyming scheme of
A
A
B
B.
The rhyming is clever and the second stanza is a beautifully phrased math problem and sounds like a riddle or is reminiscent of the songs taught to children to ensure memorization of mathematical fundamentals.  The poem is simple and speaks of simple joys in life, namely to behold the cherry tree in bloom.  The math demonstrated by Housman is to emphasize the temporal nature and seemingly short span of one's life.  All the more reason and with urgency to behold the cherry tree once more.

"To an Athlete Dying Young"

This poem describes the young athlete, now dead.  He was revered in certain instances and made his town proud.  He was admired.  However,
"Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than a rose."
The laurel symbolizes the achievement and the personal power of the athlete and perhaps it represents the athlete himself.  Housman comments of the temporal nature of fame and glory, of youth.  The passing of time in it's destructive capacities is a topic already noted in "[The Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry now]."  The final stanza is baffling to this reader and ends
"And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's."
Here, Housman makes a distinction between the person or the personal power of the athlete as a man (as symbolized by his laurel garland), and that of a female. He goes no further to extrapolate this idea but favors the girl for longevity of that which might be symbolized with a victor's garland.

Edward Thomas

"Adlestrop"
This poem is in stark contrast to the poems so far mentioned.  It goes to no great lengths to inspire intense emotions in the reader but is straight forward and not the least bit pedantic or advisory.  Simply, it is Edward Thomas's memory of a moment in Adlestrop, the train, the heat of June, the clouds, and the birds.  This poem demonstrates the capacity of poetry to tell a lot and to give a very distinct impression with very few words.

"February Afternoon"
On this particular February afternoon, Thomas is thinking of history.  He looks out on the agricultural pursuits of men and finds a timeless quality. The quality seems to be the obligation of man to a particular way of life which is his "law".
The second and final stanza continues this idea of experiencing the past presently but with the last three lines, Thomas touches on the heavier topics of war and of the role of God in human affairs. Like Thomas Hardy, Edward Thomas implies God to be an imperfect invention of man.
"And God still sits aloft in the array
That we have wrought him, stone-deaf and stone-blind."

Altogether the poem speaks of man's obligation to carry on his work, even when militaristic and implores the reader to question God's role in these matters, or the existence of that deity altogether.