Thomas Hardy was not only a poet, but also a fiction novelist. He also seems to be a bet opposite of Hopkins especially in the poem "Hap." "If but some vengeful god would call to me From up the sky, and laugh:" this opening of this poem makes me feel that Hardy is wondering if there is a God in heaven that he can talk to. The whole poem basically makes me think that Hardy questions if there is a God. He wonders if The God will cause him to shed tears. He just really shows how opposite he is from Hopkins in this poem because Hopkins is pretty set in his religions beliefs unlike Hardy.
"On the Departure Platform" is a very sweet poem. This poem has got to be considered a love poem. I love when men write poetry like this. I like how he describes the spot that she represents as she gets further and further away. I can see it as I read it. At the end of the poem "And why, young man, must eternally fly A joy you'll repeat, if you love her well?" I think he is saying will you go back again to see her off or you will do this again if you really love her. I like this poem it is completely different from "Hap." Hardy talks about two different things: Love and God.
All of Hardy's poetry is different he talks about God, love, Titanic, The Nation, etc. It seems like a lot of poets tend to stay close to the same types of topics and styles when they write and Hardy really veers off from that stereotype.
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Krista,
Glad to see you quoting and discussing the poems in this posting. Please keep up the improvement for your subsequent postings!
I enjoyed reading you comments on Hardy. You are correct in that he does address several topics in his works, but I did see a similiar theme in several of the pieces. He addresses feelings of loss directly in "The Convergence of the Twain" and I felt indirectly in "On the Western Circuit." I enjoyed his poems as well as any of the poetry...primarily because he used words and phrases that are familiar to me.
You are right Krista - Hardy did question whether there is a God. He was agnostic. He didn't know if there is a God or not. There is no concrete proof here on earth that there is a God, people just believe. But Agnostics don't just believe - they see the existence of God as an unknown.
"on the departure platform", I thought that was a nice poem, coming from a man.
I think that Hardy does do a good job on having different topics on his poems. It keeps it kind of changing up.
Krista,
I enjoyed your thoughts about Hardy's questioning of God, and I like the way you contrast his writings to Hopkins. I also like your observation of how he writes on so many different topics, rather than focusing on one area of life's experiences. Good Job!
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