Moments of vision : the poetry of Thomas Hardy

This book offers a sweeping view of Hardy’s achievement as a poet, based on sympathetic, interrelated readings of a broad selection of his more than nine hundred poems. Paul Zietlow breaks with the somber interpretations of the past, arguing persuasively that Hardy is on the whole a positive poet, expressing through verse the power of compassion to mitigate suffering. Hardy emerges as a poet complex in vision, subtle in style, original and grand in imagination. Zietlow surveys the various forms in which Hardy wrote, the range and depth of the feelings and ideas expressed, and the techniques employed. He examines the poetry according to type: ironic verse, ballads and narratives, philosophical fantasies, personal and confessional meditations, love poems, and brief lyrics of the moment. Many remarkable poems that have been little noticed are discussed and illuminated. PREFACE CONTENTS 1. WESSEX POEMS 2. ON POETIC ART 3. POEMS OF IRONY 4. BALLADS AND NARRATIVES 5. PHILOSOPHICAL FANTASIES 6. POEMS OF THE PAST 7. LOVE POEMS 8. MOMENTS OF VISION NOTES INDEX NOTES INDEX