Is Thomas Hardy Obsessed with the Past? Essay

Many of Thomas brazen- seemds poems be centered on the feelings summoned up when reminiscing about the other(prenominal). On the surface, it seems as though brave is obsessed with the past as many poems are twist with memories which conjure up feelings of nostalgia. It is important to consider, how ever, that this doesnt necessarily mean that he is infatuated with bygones. It may also be the case that braws poetry is a means for him to comprehend and come to terms with the present. audacious tries to reclaim the past in his poem, down the stairs the Waterfall. Fundamentally, the narrator intellection to be Emma experiences a Proustian moment as she plunges her arm into a basin of water. This stimulation brings on an avalanche of memories, which are fetched back from its pommel sheet of gray symbolizing brave trying to rescue memories from the shroud of time. Emma feels anew the romantic feelings she felt on the day she dropped a alcoholism glass into the water, when sh e and her effr where having a picnic by a waterfall. Hardy utilizes a metaphor effectively, by referring to the day as being fleer, which suggests that it is ephemeral and can be disjointed any moment. This particular shop of the past is a seemingly pleasant one as is suggested by the use of sibilance (ll 13-16).The repetition of the soft hissing sounds in scoop of the self-same resist, ceases and peaces suggests a dreamy and idealistic setting. Hardy refers to the drinking-glass as being opalized erst more indicating to how long it has been since this even took place. He gives this drinking-glass almost religious implication by sanctifying it and calling it a chalice. The chalice symbolized unity among Hardy and Emma, which still lies under the waterfall and its presence adds to the rhyme of love persistently sung by the fall above. Hardy uses create verbally couplets which give the poem a childish and youngful feel. This rhyming alludes to his youth being the prime or bes t time of his life, and by call the past he can bring back the feelings of youth.Revival of the past is a recurring theme in many of Hardys poems. Similarly to on a lower floor the Waterfall, At Castle Boterel also involves Hardy remembering a specific incident that took place between him and Emma. Emma is at a time dead, but in Hardys recollection her spook cast remains on the agglomerateside. The poem is a powerful effort in consciousness to defeat the processes of time by reclaiming the past, as is shown in Under the Waterfall also. On the other hand, the two settings have a hard contrast. Hardy drives to the junction of a line and highway with drizzle bedrenching this suggests the sombre and unhappy quality of the present. He looks behind at the byway, which is fading.This suggests change magnitude distance and decreasing significance of present reality as he delves into his past with Emma. in that respect is use of enjambment in the between the first of all two stanz as, providing a sense of transition between Hardys present and past, and also his two states of mind. He speaks of how they walked along the road and creates a warm atmosphere in dry March weather. It is unembellished that the happy moments of the poem reflect Hardys love and what it use to be in the past. The last stanza consists of sharp words, completely unthe likes of the tuneful ones in Under the Waterfall. My sand is sinking, is a euphemism of Hardys approaching death. The sand conjures up the imagery of an hour-glass, once once once more referring to time passing relentlessly.In many of his poems, Hardy develops solace in the timelessness of many landscapes and tales. This suggests that Hardy has an inclination towards the past, because of the invariable constancy that it provides, disregarding of passing time. For example, in the fifth stanza of At Castle Boterel, Hardy refers to the primordial rocks in fix up to emphasise the great age and permanence of the hill by re flecting of how much transition they must have observed. Hardy asks if ever there was a time of such quality in that hills story and states that he believes there neer were. This is, in a sense a defiance of time, as even time cannot transfigure the value of that one moment. The defiance of time is continued in the sixth stanza, as Hardys memory allows him to see one phantom figure Emma even though times unflinching cogency has killed the actual person.The idea of memory being eternal is once again portrayed in the poem I instal Her come forth there. Hardy remembers Emma in Cornwall, and how she would sigh at the tale of sunk Lyonnesse, her hairs-breadth beating against her face in the wind while she would listen to the verbalise miles. Hardy uses a technical aspect synaesthesia in order to combine two senses this has a very powerful effect on the audience, giving the scene a sense of agelessness. The Arthurian tales also fissure a link As the myths of Lyonnesse belong to a fabled past, so too does the love story of Emma and Thomas Hardy.Additionally, this theme also echoes in Under the Waterfall, as Hardy refers to the purl of a runlet that never ceases be it in wars, in peaces. Onomatopoeic diction in these lines is sounds like a flowing waterfall and represents the fact that it remains unchanged for a long period, unaffected by time.Hardy often uses the past objectively, in order to comfort him and assist him in dealing with his grief. I Found Her Out There is a poem in which Hardy begins to decouple himself from the anguish and guilt that consumed him after Emmas death. This dissociation can be seen as he refers to Emmas shade as it instead of her. He is beginning to come to acceptance of her death, as is shown by the controlled form of the poem. There are five uniform octaves, all following the rhyme proposal of ABBACDCD.Hardy ends the first stanza with the line, The solid land. This brings everything to a sudden, thumping forget and there is no mellifluous poetic beauty, as one would find in the poem, Under the Waterfall. Hardy is also conscious passable to effectively use contrasts of time in I Found Her Out There. He describes Emma in her youth, with the setting sun illuminating her face fire-red against Emma as a corpse, never to be stirred in her loamy cell. This poem is less of a lament over the lost past, and more about capturing the essence of Emma.This is not always the case, however. In Under the Waterfall, Hardy finds it difficult to emotionally detach himself from the memory of the past. This is reflected in the structure, which can be jarring. The length of lines is not uniform, and this may suggest that Hardys mind wasnt in a neutral state. He also asks many questions, such as And why does plunging your arm in a bowl full of spring water, bring throbs to your soul? This portrays his ingrained turmoil.In conclusion, I believe that although Hardy had an inclination with the past, one cannot so far as to say that he was obsessed with it.