An Exploration Of Ecological Thought In Hardy's Poetry

Thomas Hardy is recognized as a famous writer in Britain even in the world.He is good at depicting nature.In all of his life,he has produced around 900 poems in which there are more than 100 nature poems.From1970s,Hardy's poems have attracted more and more readers and critics' attention.In 1973 Donald David considered that Hardy was the pioneer and protector of the nature of modern British poetry in his book of Thomas Hardy and British Poetry.He thinks that the person who gave impacts on the poetry in the 20th century is Hardy,rather than Yeats or Eliot.Similarly,Hardy's poems concerning natural ecological thoughts will certainly be paid attention by more and more scholars.Darwin matures Hardy's ecological view;and Hardy's ecological thinking,directly or indirectly,affected the overall ecological thinking of Ralston and Rachel Carson's ecological book "Silent Spring" (1962).In Hardy's works,human beings are often in harmony with nature and natural scenery reflects the people's status.This study focuses on partially the analysis of Hardy's gloomy,cold,disabled and painful nature poems from which Hardy's ecological sense of anxiety is expressed;by absorption of the various social trends of thoughts and detailed analysis of nature poems,Hardy reveals his ecological thinking from the perspectives of considerations on humanism,irrationalism, anti-anthropocentrism and anti-frenzied desire.The wholeness,harmony,strength and kindheartedness in natural ecological poetry become a good prescription for the humanist to rescue the society by which Hardy's ecological ideal is realized.In a certain sense,Hardy is a humanist,but he can also be regarded as an ecological writer. Hardy conducted a thorough merciless criticism to the real world,from the perspective of literature he criticizes and reflects profoundly the changing world,but Hardy brings up an idealist picture of man and nature coexisting harmoniously,which in turn promotes the humanistic reflection on the development of the world.Man and nature living in harmony becomes the target of all efforts.There are four chapters in this dissertation.The first chapter is the introduction. The chapter presents literature review,assumptions,methodologies and contributions of this paper.Chapter Two presents the roots of Hardy's ecological thought.First,a brief statement on the roots of Hardy's ecological thought is introduced:economic and political changes,ideological and cultural changes,and even the rise of European anti-rationalism have more or less influenced Hardy's poetic creation.Then,a brief statement on Hardy's ecological thought is brought up.Chapter Three mainly focuses on the poet's ecological thought permeated in his poetry.Accompanied with the analysis of his positive and negative attitudes towards nature,a comparison of similarities and differences between his poetry and that of the romantic poets is made directly and indirectly;Hardy's views on nature are quite complicated,he enthusiastically expresses his love and admiration of nature in nature poems,at the same time he is aware that nature presents invisible forces,so he also urges human beings to comply with the natural orders of humanity,he also accepts nature's cruelty,mankind should coexist with nature in harmony,if people trample nature they will suffer its retaliation.His emphasis upon the interdependence among human beings and between human beings and their fellow-creatures in the community predicts the later-developed organicism in the 20^th century.To some extent,we can see that Hardy's ecological thought in nature shows its extreme similarity to the advocating of a harmonious society,therefore,under the guideline of sustainable development,it is valuable for us to understand the relationship between man and nature.Then,based on textual study,Hardy's attitude towards man is introduced and in so doing Hardy's spiritual ecological ideas are presented.As Hardy is aware of the ruthless and objective nature,he lives in a specific period and produces a consistent ideology different from the contemporary understanding.He advocates the overall concept of ecology and antianthropecentrism,and he thinks that nature should be considered as a whole ecosystem,human beings should not be self-centered, destructing nature.While Hardy shows pessimism in his poetry,he never gives up the pursuit of natural beauty.Last wraps up the chapter with Hardy's attitude towards animals.By analyzing his poems,we can see that Hardy shows his humanistic concerns towards all the creatures in the natural world.Chapter Four brings about the conclusion.In this chapter,a conclusion of the whole study is made,inadequacies of the proposed papers and the focus of the future study,particularly the application of the new theory of ecocriticism to the research of ecological thought in Hardy's poetry,are also brought up.