Female Images In Thomas Hardy’s Poetry From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

Thomas Hardy was one of the most distinguished figures in British literature,whose name was indelibly imprinted in both fields of novel and poetry writing.Although it was his novels that made him rise to fame,poetry was Hardy’s lifelong literary pursuit.He wrote nearly a thousand poems in his lifetime,and the extraordinary value of his poems is gradually acknowledged by the reading public.A comprehensive reading of his poetry collection shows that his poetry involves a large number of different female images.In addition,the current studies about Hardy’s poetry focus primarily on his nature poems or mourning poems,while the ethical thoughts embodied in his poems are rarely involved.Therefore,this thesis,in virtue of ethical literary criticism initiated by Nie Zhenzhao,concentrates on the female images in Hardy’s poems,so as to explore the ethical values in his poetry.By selecting the representative poems,in which women possess the ethical identities of wife(lover)or daughter of different social classes,the thesis unties the ethical knots these women encountered in love,marriage and family ethics.This thesis,through analysis of their ethical dilemmas and ethical selections,demonstrates and proves Hardy’s critical attitude towards the hypocritical ethical orders on women’s morality and his deep sympathy for women facing ethical predicaments.Hardy is not a guardian of the patriarchal society,but a broad-minded and comprehensive humanistic artist.