On The Pessimism Of Hard's Lyric Poems

Thomas Hardy is a transitional figure from the nineteenth-century to the twentieth-century English literature. He is both a major novelist and a major poet. However, there has been a tendency in Hardy scholarship both at home and abroad to concentrate on Hardy's novels whereas the intrinsic values of his pomes are much neglected. As is often the case, his poems are often considered the by-product of the famous novelist. Although his poetry has drawn more and more critical attention in the past thirty years, the critical studies on his poetry are still inadequate in scope and magnitude as compared with those of his novels, especially in China. Therefore, Hardy's poetry requires deep and systematic studies because it is as important as, if not more important than , his prose fiction in its profundities of thought and its influence on the mid- and late twentieth-century English literature . It constitutes an integral part of his literary writings. Therefore, the study of his poetry contributes greatly to the comprehensive understanding of Hardy's profound thought and distinctive art.Hardy wrote poetry for over 60 years, his earliest known poem finished in 1860 and his last dated in early1928. He devoted 25 of these years to novel writing, but kept his hand in as a poet. Hardy's full-time poetic career lasted longer than that of many other Victorians. He worte poems in more metrical forms than any other major English poets and invented over 600 stanza forms. It is said that if Hardy had not been so prominent as a novelist, his stature as a poet would have come clear earlier. He continued to define himself primarily as a poet. And poetry is the most expressive among all his literary achievements. The condensed expression that it affords was so much consonant to his natural way of thinking and feeling.Hardy's poetry neither sets nor follows a period style, nor dose it undergo any drastic change of manner or theme from tradition. Some of his...