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354th out of 975 books
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1,011 voters
Selected Poems (Oxford Poetry Library)
Although best remembered today for his novels, Thomas Hardy thought of himself as a poet forced by circumstance to write fiction for a living. This generous selection of nearly two hundred poems includes such familiar pieces as "During Wind and Rain," "Channel Firing," "Afterwards," "The Darkling Thrush," and "The Oxen," but it will also acquaint readers with many less-cel...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
December 1st 1998
by Penguin Classics
(first published December 1st 1940)
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Dec 06, 2007
Nicole
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who like poetry and or Hardy's novels
I know a little too much about Thomas Hardy, thanks to a college seminar on his life and work. It's my humble opinion that some of Hardy's poetry is genius, like Neutral Tones. Much of his poetry is heavy with regret, memory, bleakness, mourning, and lots of other profound emotions. There are some happier poems, but don't read Hardy for a pep talk on love or human nature.
I am particularly drawn to his poetry about war (what my senior paper was all about), and recommend you read "Poems of War and...more
I am particularly drawn to his poetry about war (what my senior paper was all about), and recommend you read "Poems of War and...more
A stunning, life-altering revelation. I had been aware since my undergraduate days of Hardy's second career as a poet -- one of the strangest in the history of English letters -- and the nearly fanatical devotion he engendered among readers of a certain stripe, without ever having made the effort to penetrate the mystery of his verse. The wait has been richly rewarded. As many other critics have noted, Hardy wrote some of the weirdest verse imaginable; Robert Mezey, in his cheerleader-ly introdu...more
This is my second volume of Hardey's poems. I picked it up because it contains a few not published previously. I love Hardey's novels and his poetry has the same Victorian wordiness. Never boring. Often full of subtext he was unable to overtly expose in his day.
"Between us now and here—
Two thrown together
Who are not wont to wear
Life’s flushest feather—
Who see the scenes slide past,
The daytimes dimming fast,
Let there be truth at last,
Even if despair.
So thoroughly and long
Have you now known me,
So...more
"Between us now and here—
Two thrown together
Who are not wont to wear
Life’s flushest feather—
Who see the scenes slide past,
The daytimes dimming fast,
Let there be truth at last,
Even if despair.
So thoroughly and long
Have you now known me,
So...more
Whilst no one could doubt Hardy's importance as a novelist, it seems that many modern readers forget that he was also an excellent poet. At times strange, at others formal and traditional, there's always a unique beauty to many of his poems. I highly recommend the Penguin Classics edition of his 'Selected Poetry', edited by Robert Mezey. Mezey's unabashed love and admiration of Hardy makes reading his poetry all the more enjoyable.
AFTERWARDS BY THOMAS HARDY
When the Present has latched its post...more
AFTERWARDS BY THOMAS HARDY
When the Present has latched its post...more
I got curious about Hardy's poetry after a discussion on Slate regarding the poem, The Darkling Thrush. Hardy's definitely a melancholic poet, most concerned with the darker, bleaker side of life, and writes beautiful poems in that manner. It's been too long since I last read a poet who uses established meter and rhyme, let alone a poet who employs them so well. There's much to ponder over in reading Hardy's work and I found this book to be a good introduction.
Hardy's verse takes shit but I wouldn't change him. However I DO think he may have killed his wife, give the deeply redundant and eulogistic Tell Tale Heart-esque paranoia about his lyrical grieving...
I read this collection in college and have kept it all these years. I really prefer Hardy's poetry to his prose. The story goes that he was a poet who wrote novels to make money to pay for his wife's mental illness, etc. The poetry is lovely, written in the latter part of his life, and mostly about his then-deceased wife.
Jan 16, 2009
Moira Russell
added it
I would say he was one of the greatest English poets, if he hadn't inflicted THE DYNASTS upon blameless future generations.
So melancholy! I'm glad this was only a selection instead of the complete works. I like Hardy, but after a while he is just depressing.
In most of his poems hes looking back at the past and they are sad/lonely ones.
Fairly typical Victorian mawkish stuff, I thought.
Hardy's poetry is even better than his prose.
Always liked Impressionist literature.
Love his poetic style
fantastic
Not memorable.
Hardy is better known for his novels, but quickly became my favorite poet upon my first exposure to him in this compilation in a class my freshman year at Pomona. Soem poems touch upon a personal level, others just reach me for some inexplicable reason, and all are beautifully written. Hardy more than any poet has influenced my writing, and this compilation is a great introduction to his work.
I haven't developed general opinion on his poetry. There were poems that, while reading, touched me but then didn't stick in my memory.
Hardy's poems are really a mixed bag for me. Some of them are wonderful. Some don't really work. When I was a student, I read that the reason he wrote poetry in his later years was because of the violent reception of Jude the Obscure (it was publicly burned by many a religious zealot).
I love Hardy's novels but he is also a truly great poet.
Wow. I never thought Thomas Hardy would be such an awesome poet. "Channel Firing" is the shit and so are quite a few others. Now I've really got to read Jude the Obscure...
He's like one of those elderly relatives of whom you say, "He's a miserable git, but that's why we love him".
'The Convergence Of The Twain' remains one of my favourites.
'The Convergence Of The Twain' remains one of my favourites.
Sep 17, 2011
Ellee
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
200-300pgs,
poetry-megalist
Hardy's poetry is some of the best I've read all year. A little bit melancholy, but not overly self-pitying or melodramatic. Good stuff. Definitely recommend it!
Hardy's poems and short stories came just before the Victorian Era tried to destroy all that is good and right in literature. As such, it is pretty good.
I LOVE some of his poetry, the sound the meter the bleak....sweeps me away every single time.
Wow, Hardys poems are a little dark, but some are also beautifully done.
Hardy's Selected Poems (Dover Thrift Editions) by Thomas Hardy (1995)
Thomas Hardy is a joke. How can anyone take this morbid stuff seriously?
Mostly ok, but a few very brilliant and very moving moments.
I find Hardy's poems much better than his short stories.
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Thomas Hardy, OM, was an English author of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his facination with the supernatural. Though he regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels mainly for financial gain. The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex, delineat...more
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Jan 12, 2012 04:07pm